Percy Jackson and the Siege of Land Half-Blood
by SephCurrentDaughterofPoseidon
Summary: Was Previously names Robin Hood PJO & HOO Style, but it doesn't really follow much of that line anymore, so it was high time for a new name! Join Percy and friends. as they take down the evil King Kronos, and Luke, his right hand man who is the oppressive ruler of Land Half-Blood. CH 13: Breaking Out.
1. Tax Return

**Well this is chapter one: Tax Return**

**I would like to thank alejandrita 0202 for betaing it :)**

**I would like to thank Mythologyrocks3 for giving me the name, and for reading the first chapter in advance just like my beta! You guys rock :)**

* * *

**PERCY:**

He and three others were walking up the dirt road that led to the king's village. "Alright," a voice beside him whispered, "I still don't get why I have to wear this stupid pointless annoying excuse for a piece of clothing."

"Because, Annabeth, you are a girl, and girls wear dresses, we aren't in the forest at the moment. You don't hear Piper complaining, do you?"

Annabeth sighed.

"Thank you, now if you don't mind, we have to infiltrate the palace, and if you keep complaining about that dress of yours, we will never get in!"

"Percy, where did you say the money was again?" Jason Grace asked.

"Well, according to Reyna it is on the second floor, third door on the left."

Jason thought for a moment, probably trying to memorize it.

"Alright, Annabeth, Piper, go and distract the guards." The two girls nodded and walked over to the two guards at the gate, smiling. There was a reason that they were chosen for the distraction, and that was because they were easily the most beautiful out of the whole army of outlaws.

"Okay, Leo said that he and Seph had the horses taken care of, and James and Frank were clearing the way for our escape," Jason said to Percy under his breath, while watching the girls walking over to them. They were smiling, and Piper pointed at the sword attached to his belt, the knight smiled and drew it. The other said something and both girls giggled.

"God," Percy marveled, "_how_ do they do that? I mean they actually look like they were having a good time."

Jason shrugged. "Okay, Piper just winked… time to go."

They snuck to the other side of the gate and started to climb past, it was a slow process, they had to be extra careful not to fall, and not to make noise of any kind. They managed to make it over the wall, they heard a voice call, "Piper, Annabeth, get over here, you know better than to get in the guard's way!..." That would be his mother.

He looked at his friend, while they were walking to the door, and he could have laughed, Percy was not used to Jason being dressed up. Normally, they were in rags, running around and training in the forest, no one to impress, other than the trees.

"You ready," Percy asked him.

Jason nodded, and they opened up the doors and walked inside.

It was luxurious to say the least, stain glass windows everywhere, crystal chandeliers, the furniture looked so nice and plush it was as though the material was made out of clouds.

"The rest of the people in this nice land are starving and the king lives like this?" Jason seethed.

Percy would have said something, but he was interrupted by a man, with blonde hair and blue eyes that came walking up, he was handsome, but a large scar marred his appearance, "Can I help you boys with anything?"

Percy looked at Jason for a moment, before saying, "I have an audience with King Kronos, my younger brother wanted to walk with me, but he can show himself out now." Percy glanced at Jason with a meaningful look.

Jason nodded and said, "Of course."

"No, no," the man said, "both of you can come with me, his majesty is not seeing anyone today, so if you will, give me the real reason that you were here, or I shall have to turn to more… unpleasant methods of getting information," his hand moved to the hilt of his sword.

"Well," Percy said, then he drew his sword, Riptide, "it is none of your concern."

The man smiled a very cruel smile, "Apparently you don't know who I am."

"Why would we care who you are?" Jason demanded, his sword drawn as well.

"If you did, you wouldn't have drawn your swords. I am Luke Castellan, right-hand man to the King Kronos, and the best swordsman in Land Half-Blood in the last three hundred years."

Percy had to keep from rolling his eyes, what was it with nobles and blowing their own horn? All they did was brag about themselves! "Okay… Luke," Percy said. "If you are finished boasting, I would like to test your theory, why don't we see who is the best swordsman in this land?"

Luke smiled coldly, the scar made him look even more sinister, and pulled out his sword. His blade was strange looking, half silver and half bronze. "Alright…."

"Percy Jackson," Percy told him.

"Alright, Percy Jackson, let's see what you got."

* * *

**JASON:**

The message that Percy gave him was clear: _while I distract Luke, you sneak off and grab the money. _So Jason did just that, while Percy was pretending to listen to Luke brag, he ran off to grab the valuables, he sheathed his swords, hoping that he would be faster and quieter with it put away. He walked quietly up the stairs, no problem came, but Jason was still weary, he knew Percy too well, he loved the boy like a brother, but his plans never work.

He looked around as he got off at the second floor, and that was where all of his problems started. As soon as he got from the stairwell, and into the hallway, he saw the door that contained the people's money, he walked over, but when he was halfway there, he froze. A group of people rounded the corner, knights, from the looks of them. They passed him by with no problem… except for one at the back, he looked at him and said, "Say kid, have we met before?"

They'd met before alright, Jason would recognize that scar anywhere, the last raiding that they did was on a tax collector, he decided that he wasn't going to give up without a fight, the result was Jason fighting him, while the rest took on the army of knights. The fight ended when Jason, swung in a upward arc and hit his face.

"No, sir," Jason lied, "I don't believe we have."

The tax collector looked at him, a frown set on his face, "I _know_ I have seen you somewhere…." Just then his face turned from a thinking frown to a severely pissed frown. "Knights!"

Immediately Jason turned and ran, he was going to go back down the stairs, but then he thought about all the trouble that the gang went through for pulling this off, he turned the other way, and ran toward the door, as soon as he got there, opened it and went inside, there was an iron bolt on the inside, he fastened it, and stepped out of the way as someone rammed into it.

* * *

**LEO:**

He and Seph were walking casually through the town, trying not to draw attention to themselves. They came up to their destination, and it was the royal stables, "Leo is that thing of yours finished?"

Leo nodded and handed her a small round piece of bronze metal with a large button right in the middle, "Alright all you have to do is get close enough to the horses to press this button by their ears, it lets off a signal, meaning stay, they follow this instead of their master's orders-" he were interrupted by a loud bell ringing. "I would say that was your brother and Jason being discovered, which means that we don't have much time, let's go!"

Now the reason that Seph was doing this was because she had a special way with horses, just like her brother, Percy, and she was the only one that could get near a knight's horse, other than the knight himself, without getting stomped into the dirt.

She snuck in to do her job, while Leo kept a lookout. "Hey, pretty lady, what-" that was cut off by a loud bang.

"Seph!" Leo hissed. "Could you be any louder, I don't think the knights heard us."

"Sorry," he heard her voice say. "Tell me Repair Boy, what did you want me to do exactly? Let me watch me while I sabotaged the horses?"

"Just do your job," Leo groaned, what was with that girl and sarcasm? _Well, _he thought, _at least James didn't hear anyone calling her pretty, _he shuddered at the thought.

About five minutes later she came out with two horses in tow one was black as night and the other as white as snow, "Hey, hey, um, Seph…."

"Yeah," she asked, petting one of the animals.

"What are you doing?"

She looked at him and said, "Nothing," her eyes widened as she realized what he meant. "These beauties right here are the boys' get away rides."

"They won't need them," Leo said, "that's why we got rid of the horses."

"Two things," Seph said, "First off I want to take no chances, and two: the Stolls taught that there is nothing more appealing than stealing from that moron that they call a king."

Leo clapped a hand over her mouth, "As much as I agree with you, don't say that, I don't want to end up with my neck in a noose anytime soon."

She nodded and rolled her eyes, "Alright, let's get closer to the castle."

* * *

**FRANK:**

He and James were trying to devise a plan to get all of these people in their homes that way when Percy and Jason came riding through, all they needed to do was get to the forest, the king's men wouldn't follow, they thought that the place was haunted. They thought for a moment, but every solution ended with the conclusion that they would be arrested and executed. Just when they were about to give up, the intruder bell rang, that was enough for everyone to stop what they were doing, and Frank had an idea.

"The King declares that for your own safety, you need to proceed to your own houses!" The people looked at him, like _why should we care?_

"Anyone still outside will be punished brutally!" James called

That did it, everyone started clearing off, and not a moment too soon, not two minutes after the people got off of the street, did Percy and Jason come riding through on horses so beautiful that it would make Hazel's heart break, followed about thirty seconds later by angry knights… on foot. Looks like Seph and Leo did their job as well.

* * *

**JASON:**

He was looking at the door, it wasn't going to last forever, and if he didn't hurry, he was going to be the star attraction at the hanging at the village square. He looked around and spotted the bag of cash that belonged to the people. He sighed and went to pick it up, it was quite large and heavy… the king must have raised the taxes… again. He took the bag and went to the window, he could fit through it but he was two stories in the air, when he looked down, he saw some bushes that he would probably land on, it wouldn't kill him, but it probably wouldn't feel so good, then he looked up, there was a ledge that he could probably reach….

Percy might need his help anyway. He stood on the window seal, and pulled himself to the ledge of the next floor, not a moment too soon, the door busted open, and the guards came it… thankfully they didn't have a clue that he was right outside the window, he managed to slide into the next floor and realized that he was in some sort of bedroom. It looked nice, there was a huge bed with a beautiful fireplace. It made him angry at the thought of the people on the streets that have never even so much as slept on a bed, then he comes in here and sees all of the things that the people's taxes buy for him. He couldn't afford to be angry, at the moment Percy could need his help.

* * *

**PERCY:**

He had to give it to Luke, he was an excellent sword fighter. They had been fighting for around ten minutes, and a bell went off, not a minute later had him and Luke been surrounded by knights, they were about to take him when Luke shouted, "No, let us finish our match, it is high time, this insolent boy was taught a lesson!"

The knights jeered at him. Luke made a well-aimed strike at his exposed side, but Percy deflected it off his blade, but didn't do it at the right time and it managed to cut his arm. He couldn't concentrate on that at the moment.

Percy swung at Luke's neck, but it was weak and clumsy, he was losing too much blood.

"HEY!" a voice yelled from the top of the stairs, everyone looked at him, it was Jason. He ran over to the ledge, you would think that he was just going to stop, but he jumped over, and grabbed onto the chandelier. Percy could hear the cracking and the groaning sounds from the wires trying to support Jason's extra weight, and he knew that there was no way that it was going to hold. Around five seconds later Jason was freefalling with the chandelier, he managed to climb on top of it and when he was almost on to the ground he jumped off of it, and rolled as he hit the ground to lessen the impact. Luke had to dive out of the way in to avoid being crushed by the falling celling decoration.

Percy and Jason lost no time, they busted through the wall of knights that were just standing there in shock, Percy felt so dizzy, but he forced it back, he noticed the large bag that was hanging from his belt and smiled, their plan had worked out after all.

"What are you just standing around for you idiots? Go and get them!" Luke yelled while they were running out of the gate, startling the guards that were on duty.

Percy saw Seph and Leo beside two horses, she was smiling and petting them, Percy got the message, the both of them hopped on their rides and raced to the forest, the people's tax money ready to be given back.

* * *

**I was watching Robin Hood yesterday and I was struck with this idea, I was wondering if it is any good, should I continue?**


	2. King Kronos' Declaration

**JASON:**

Percy wasn't looking so good, he had a dark red spot on his sleeve, where Luke must have cut him. Once they were deep enough in the forest, Jason made Percy stop, that way he could examine his wounds. "It's just my arm," Percy said trying to play it off, "we're almost at the camp, I'll be fine."

"No, Perce," Jason sighed, "we are not close to the camp, and it may be _just_ your arm to you, but it is a lot of blood loss _and_ my head to me."

Percy raised an eyebrow at him, so Jason elaborated, "I'm sure that your girlfriend and mother would be delighted to hear that you died from blood loss, and they wouldn't kill me because I listened to you and rode on while you were bleeding."

"You sound like a mother yourself, and she is _not_ my girlfriend!"

Jason rolled his eyes, he just informed him that if he didn't stop the bleeding that he could die from blood loss, which would result in Jason's head being torn off by two women, one normally sweet… the other one scared him slightly, and the only thing that he was concerned about was the fact that Jason called Annabeth his girlfriend… only Percy. "Okay, Percy," Jason said, "sure she isn't your girlfriend, and I'm _not_ acting like a mother."

"Okay Jason," Percy said mocking the tone that he had used on him seconds before, "sure you're not acting like a mother."

Jason tore off a piece of fabric from his shirt and cleaned off the blood the best he could and then tore another piece off his shirt and wrapped it around his arm. "That's the best that I can do at the moment… it should keep you sustained until we reach the camp. Percy nodded, and they get back on their horses and rode off.

* * *

**LEO:**

They gave the horses to Percy and Jason, their work was done, as they were walking up the dirt, road using a short-cut to the camp, they ran into Annabeth, Piper, and Mrs. Jackson.

"Any news?" Annabeth asked, while the others stared worriedly.

"They got away one horses," he informed them. All of them visibly relaxed.

"Aww, come on!" Seph said cheerfully, "you don't think that I would let my friends get themselves killed, do you?"

Everyone smiled at that, "Come on, Seph," Leo said, "you needed my help to stay alive!"

"How did I need your help to stay alive… the last time I checked _I _was the one that did all the sabotage work."

Leo looked over at the other three in the group, giving them a _who are you going to listen to_ look. Then said, "She was being loud when she was fixing the horses."

"The horse keeper was hitting on me!"

"I heard him," Leo smirked, "well, lots of men are pigs."

"Yeah," Seph snapped, "you're one of them."

"Sure, Seph, whatever floats your boat." He looked back at the other and continued his rant, "Then if that wasn't bad enough she walks out with two horses, mind you they were beautiful, but we are in a disguise as peasants, how can we afford a horse that beautiful? I asked her why and she told me that they were for Percy and Jason, and that it was fun to steal from that moron that we call a king."

"Seph," Annabeth sighed, "you have to be more cautious."

Seph nodded then sighed, sending a glare at Leo. They turned into the forest, Leo's feet wanted to cry in relief, the campsite was only like fifty yards away, and he had been walking all morning! After cursing, tripping, and stumbling for fifty yards in almost dark conditions, they made it to the campsite. Hazel ran over and gave them a hug. "Have you seen Frank and James?"

Seph stiffened at James' names, "What do you mean?" she asked nervously. "They haven't made it back yet?"

Hazel shook her head, "I thought that they would-"

Her thought was interrupted by someone shouting "Help!"

Leo spun around to see Jason supporting a semiconscious Percy on a horse. Annabeth screamed and ran over, Leo ran after her, followed by Mrs. Jackson, Hazel, Piper, and Seph. Annabeth, Jason, and Leo lowered Percy down off of the horse and Leo and Jason carried him to the healing tent, Annabeth and Mrs. Jackson following closely behind.

* * *

**FRANK:**

Him and James were waiting for the knights to pass, then they were going to escape back into the forest… that was the plan anyway, Frank was quickly learning that the James, Percy, Thalia, Jason, Nico, and Seph couldn't make plans. One knight decided to slow down and take a close look at their faces. "Hello, boys," he said, "I don't remember seeing you around here before."

James nodded, "Well, we are visiting extended family sir, we live in the next village over."

The knight nodded. "Well, just let me see your papers, and I'll leave you young boys alone."

Frank and James looked at each other nervously, before Frank said, "We left them at our aunt's house."

The knight frowned, "You know that leaving your papers is a crime punishable by death."

Both boys looked at each other with wide eyes. "Death, you say?" James asked.

"Aye boy, death."

Frank gave James a meaningful look, then shouted, "NOW," James drew his sword and pointed at the knight, smirking. He swore that James' attitude was going to get him killed one day. Bur Frank didn't have time to think about that.

"You know," the knight said, nervousness coloring his voice, "I could have you arrested for this!"

"Honestly," James said, "you said that we could be hung for not having our papers… we don't have them, what do we have to lose?" Frank disarmed him and grabbed some rope out of his sack, and bound him.

"You know all of this could have been avoided if you would have stuck with your military group, and didn't try to pick on 'defenseless' kids," Frank informed him.

"Oh, you have made a big mistake," the knight hissed at them, "I will hunt you down, I will find you, and kill you in the slowest, way known to man!"

"That my friend," James said sheathing his sword, "is only if you can find us." Then he and Frank ran off.

Frank looked up at the sky, the sun was setting… that was when he remembered telling Hazel that he would meet her at the bay at sunset. "Oh, god," Frank groaned, "Hazel is going to kill me!"

James' eyes widened, "We have to get back to camp… like now!" they put on a spurt of speed, racing down the dirt road, it felt like hours, in reality it had only been about forty-five minutes, they made it to the turn in on the forest. The camp was so close, Frank could smell the fire, and the sweet food that was being cooked, as they broke into the clearing everyone looked at them, then Frank was tackled into a hug by a worried and angry Hazel.

* * *

**JAMES:**

James watched Frank be nearly brought to the ground by a girl that is like half his size, and laughed, that was until someone tackled him into a hug. All he saw was long black hair, and the grip that she had around his neck was crushing. "God, James, don't ever do that again!"

He about fell over, it was _Seph!_ He hugged her back rocking back and forth, "I'm sorry, I won't Seph."

She was shaking, "I thought that you had gotten caught! I thought that they were going to hang you, James you should have been back a long time ago!"

She still hadn't let him go, "We got… held up."

She let go of him and said, "Held up?"

A knight that was supposed to be on the hunt for Jason and Percy asked us for our papers…. Speaking of Jason and Percy… where are they?"

Seph thought for a moment, "Jason is with Piper, and Percy… well Percy is in the healer's tent, he received a nasty cut on his arm, and lost a lot of blood.

James was looking at her, "Well, let's go and see him."

They walked over to the nearest tent and, walked inside, Percy was laying down on the bed, he was awake and him and Annabeth were talking. James cleared his throat. They both looked up and Percy smiled, "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Perce," James said. "You know, I don't recall you getting a sword cut on your arm as a part of the plan."

Percy paused and looked at him and Seph, as if waiting for something to happen, "Seph… James… are you two actually getting along?"

James shrugged, "Guess so."

Percy smirked, and raised an eyebrow, he opened his mouth to say something, but Annabeth glared at him, so he just shut it.

"Alright," Seph sighed, "I think that Percy needs some rest," with that said she dragged James out of the tent.

Seph sighed, "Alright, I think I'm going to go to sleep, you might want to as well.

* * *

**ANNABETH:**

Percy was going to be the death of her, the boy was her best friend and he was an absolute idiot, hence his nickname, Seaweed Brain. He went and got himself hurt, then Jason told her that he tried to convince him that he was fit enough to ride the whole way to camp, without doing something about his wounds. She scolded him as soon as he woke up. He just smiled and waved it off, as if it was nothing.

"God," Percy!" she exclaimed. "You don't need to just shrug it off! This is actually serious!"

He rolled his eyes, "Come on, Annabeth, you know that I'm not going to die!"

"You say that now," she snapped, then stormed off out of the tent, she couldn't handle it anymore, if Percy wanted to be an idiot and die, she was not about to stand around and watch him!

* * *

**PIPER:**

She walked off with Jason, not really talking about anything in particular, when he sat down by a tree, she heard something that sounded like coins clattering. Jason jumped back up, and said, "Come on, I gotta go and give this to Percy, we have to return this to Zeusberg tomorrow." Piper nodded and followed him back into the more populated area of the campsite. Her and Jason were about to walk into the healer's tent, when Skylar and Will walked over.

"Jason," Will said, he sounded worried.

"Yeah, what is it, Will?" Jason asked.

"Kronos has issued these." He handed Jason a piece of paper.

It read:

_Reward for the capture of these men:_

It showed picture of Jason, Percy, Frank, and James.

_200,000 alive_

_100,000 dead_

Jason's eyes widened.

"That isn't all, Jason," Skylar said, "The king is going to publically announce it tomorrow… you know that most of the people that need the money are illiterate. You are going to be the source of a manhunt."

"Well," Jason said, "I think I am going to go to that announcement tomorrow."

Piper felt like she was going to explode, "Jason, you can't go! The people are looking for you!"

"Piper, someone has to stand up to him! And if no one is, then I sure will."

"Jason," Piper said quietly, "you know that you aren't going anywhere without me."

"Piper," Jason protested, "that is out of the question!"

"No, Jason it is not," she stated simply, "I am going with you, end of conversation. Now we need to go and inform Percy, James and Frank of their problem, and your stupid plan."

* * *

**HAZEL:**

Her and Frank still had their walk to the bay, regardless of the time. She grabbed his hand, relieved that he hadn't been caught by the guards. He laughed at her for being so worried, but this was the first time that she had stayed back at the camp and the others had left, and the only thing that has accomplished was making her worried sick.

"You do know that I am never staying behind again, right?"

Frank nodded.

"You're never going to ask me to are you?"

Frank looked up at her, his eyes filled with worry, but she didn't care, she was not going to let him go out there alone! "I won't ask you… ever, I promise."

She smiled and leaned up on her tip-toes to kiss him. She leaned on his shoulder to watch the moon reflecting almost white light off the bay. Everything was so peaceful, and she wouldn't want to be anywhere else at the moment."

"FRANK, HAZEL," and with that, her perfect moment was ruined.

They turned around to see Piper and Jason running through the trees, frantically trying to reach them.

"What is it?" Hazel asked when they were beside her.

Jason handed her a sheet of paper, she looked at it and it said:

_Reward for the capture of these men:_

It showed picture of Frank, Jason, Percy ,and James.

_200,000 alive_

_100,000 dead_

She felt her heart leap up into her throat.

"The king is going to announce it publicly for the illiterate. Tomorrow, and Jason is going." Piper informed her.

Hazel frowned, "Jason, why do you want to go?"

"I'm going to go and show the king that not everyone is afraid of him."

"Jason, isn't us stealing his money, showing him enough?"

Piper raised her eyebrows at him, as if saying _if you won't listen to me, listen to her_.

"No, it isn't."

Frank nodded, "We're already wanted, what do we have to lose?"

"I don't know," Hazel said sarcastically, "your _lives!_

Frank just ignored her, "Fine, Frank, if you go, I'm going two."

Frank opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off, "Don't you even, you promised me, _promised, Frank,_ that you wouldn't ask me to stay behind." She felt tears well in her eyes. "I am going with you!"

* * *

**Well, this is two chapters in one day… I'm on a roll! Review and tell me what you think :)**


	3. The Public Announcement

**Someone reviewed and asked me about it, so I shall just say that this is a Leyna story :)**

**I don't own PJO or HoO**

* * *

**LEO:**

Leo got up the next morning and saw that a few people were getting ready to leave. He crawled out of the tent that he shared with Jason and Frank, both of them were up, they had hoods over their heads, apparently getting ready to go somewhere.

"Hey," Leo said groggily, "what are you doing?"

They hissed at him to be quiet, so Leo got up and walked over to join them. "We're going out," Jason whispered. "We need to get to the king's village."

Leo blinked, "I want to go."

"This is not an idle visit," Frank informed him, "we have business to take care of."

"I know," Leo assured him, "I think I understand what you want to do, but that doesn't change the fact that I want to go!"

"Shhhh," they both hissed at him

"No, Leo," Jason said gently, "I know why you want to go, but today won't be the best day to see her."

"Jason, I really don't care," Leo snapped. "If Piper was in Reyna's place, a maid for that… for that monster, tell me that you wouldn't use every excuse and any means necessary to see her. Frank what if it was Hazel?" Both boys were quiet, but Leo thought that he would just put one more point in, "Guys, I know that I am not the most attractive person out there, or the strongest, or the smartest. What if some duke takes an interest in Reyna? What chance will I _ever_ have with her, I mean you may think that it is different because you they are actually your girlfriends, but Reyna means everything to me!"

Jason sighed, "Fine, Valdez, it's your head."

Leo went and grabbed his cloak, as soon as he was ready to head out, someone called out, "Did you think you were going to get very far without me? Two wanted men are going; I don't think I want to be thought of as a coward." Leo turned around to see James standing there smiling.

"Or me," Percy stepped out of the healer's tent, looking good as new, "I do believe that I have something to settle with Luke."

"Alright," Jason sighed, "let's just go before Piper and the rest of the girls wake up, I don't want them to get hurt."

* * *

**PIPER:**

She was going to murder Jason Grace! He snuck out of the campsite with Frank, James, Percy, and Leo, then he didn't tell her or Hazel, even though they _promised_ them that they could go! She looked around in her tent that she shared with Seph and Hazel.

She was seething, so she decided to inform Hazel what their boyfriends went off to do… without them. She shook her friend awake, Hazel looked at her, while she said, "Frank and Jason are gone," with that she told her all that she knew at the moment, which was not that much.

"Well," Hazel mused, "the solution is simple, Piper, we round up two other people and we go down to the village and give those idiots a piece of our minds."

"Why four," Piper frowned, confused.

"Because," Hazel explained, "we need one girl per boy."

"There are five boys though…." Piper said, still not getting what she was saying.

"Reyna can handle Leo."

Now it made sense, she would tell Jason off and keep him out of trouble, Hazel would have Frank to deal with, and Leo would suffer Reyna's wrath. "Alright, Annabeth could handle Percy," Piper stated. "That just leaves one more." Both Hazel and Piper looked over at the sleeping girl, then back at one another, smiling and nodding their heads.

"I'll break the news to Seph," Piper volunteered. "You can inform Annabeth." Hazel nodded and stepped out of the tent.

Piper crawled over to Seph and shook her awake, when she was conscious, she said, "Seph, we need your help." Then she went on to explain the plan to her and exactly what happened.

"Are they mad?" Seph demanded once Piper was finished.

She nodded and said, "But this is stupidity on a whole new level."

"Tell me about it… let me get this straight, you want me to walk out there, make sure that James doesn't get killed by the king, then proceed to bite his head off?"

"Yes," Piper stated.

"Okay, then," Seph said. "Let's go." With that said both of them stepped out of the tent and saw that Hazel was standing there with an angry Annabeth waiting for them.

They both started walking out of the campsite when Percy's mother came out of her tent, and looked at them questioningly. Annabeth answered Sally's unspoken question, "We're going to save your son and his friends from doing anything stupid."

She nodded and said, "Please be careful."

"Don't worry, we will." Piper assured.

* * *

**PERCY:**

When they got to the village, the crowd had just started to form, making sure that their faces weren't showing, until just the right time, the boys decided to split up, and not bring any attention to themselves by being in a group. Percy walked in the direction of the village, looking at the poverty stricken houses, and thought of the castle that the king lived in, all of the villager's money that was taken in order to pay the whole thing off. He felt rage boiling inside of him, he knew why he did what he did, he knew why his friends were outlaws, and that was because of the king, the man that was responsible for the entire wellbeing of the town.

He had been in the forest for years, their group had grown, a lot of them were runaways from the unjust law, others had nothing to lose, and others had joined because it was the right thing to do, most of them joined because the king had ran them right out of their homes, they had nowhere else to go, and they were ready for vengeance.

He looked around at the square, remembering when he was a boy, around five and the king hung his father and so many others for being traitors, that was how he met Jason, Thalia, Annabeth, Seph, McKenna, Nico, and Zach, and how the whole group got started, there were so many bad memories in this place, that he was surprised that anyone could even bare to live here.

The crowd was coming in, guards patrolling, he pulled on his hood, making sure that people couldn't get a very good look at his face. Kronos, a blonde haired man that had a shocking resemblance to Luke, but had pools of gold for eyes, walked out onto his balcony, in rich robes, looking down at the people in rags, he stared at them in distaste. He started speaking and the whole crowd went deathly quiet.

"As you know," the king started, "there is a band of dangerous outlaws in this kingdom, and they are disrupting the flow of society and they are compromising the safety of my loyal subjects. You know that I care only about your wellbeing, and the wellbeing of this beautiful kingdom," he gestured to the filthy ground below. "Now these bandits are stealing important papers and objects from the castle itself, they need to be rounded up, there are four men, and…."

Percy's attention slipped from the king's speech because someone put their arm on his shoulder. He turned and said angrily, "Hey…." He trailed off; because the person who owned the arm on his shoulder was Annabeth… he was in trouble.

* * *

**FRANK:**

Frank was standing at a corner of the town square across from Percy, who was at the back by the houses. Frank was looking at the king while he was making his speech, he was curious as to why the people had put up with him for so long, the king was lying through his teeth, and with every lie Frank was snorting to himself.

"What's so funny, Zhang?"

His breath caught in his throat, he knew that voice and he had a feeling that she was going to kill him as soon as they went back into the camp. He turned around and saw Hazel standing there, her hands on her hips and her face set on an amused frown, the amusement probably came from the scared look on his face.

"Hi, Haze!" he tried to sound like he wasn't in fear of his life.

"Frank Zhang, don't you dare 'Haze' me!" she said sternly.

He cowered in prospect of the wrath that he was about to receive.

"You told me that I could come! You have no idea how worried I was when Piper woke me up and said that you had gone! I had no idea what you had gotten into, what if something went wrong and you were taken into custody by the king and hung? I would have had no idea! How on Earth could you do that to me?"

Well, she'd done it. He felt horrible, he felt like a complete jerk, he had the girl her loved in a mess, because she was worried, now she was angry with him and he had no control over it. "I'm so sorry, Hazel; I just can't stand the thought of you being hurt."

Her glare softened as she realized his motive was actually concern. "Frankie, I know that you don't want me to get hurt, but I do have the same training as you, and I have been training for almost as long, I love the fact that you are so concerned, but I _can_ take care of myself." She gave him a hug. _Few, _he thought, _I got off easy._ "You do understand Frank, that if you ever do that again, it will be a whole lot worse."

Frank believed her, so he hurriedly nodded his head.

* * *

**LEO:**

Leo was looking high and low for Reyna, he knew that she would be out in the square, as it was common knowledge that if you were able to walk, you were to come to the king's speeches.

Just then he saw her, she had long black hair and fierce brown eyes, she was talking to someone that he knew… she was talking to Piper, oh no, Jason was in trouble.

He stayed back as she whispered to Piper, once Piper left he walked forward and tapped her on the shoulder, she spun around and as soon as she saw him, she had a frown on her face. "Hi Reyna!" Leo said brightly.

She was still frowning at him like he had done something incredibly stupid, and if he hadn't been caught up in the fact that he was happy to see her, he might figure out why she was frowning, because he was right in the middle of doing something so stupid that it was incredible.

"Leo, you really shouldn't be here!"

"What," Leo protested, feeling hurt.

"The king is out for four of your friends' heads, some of the villagers are bound to have seen you with them! Did you want to get killed, I mean Leo! I always knew that you were dense, but this is just…." She trailed off, as if she was too angry for words.

"Alright, Reyna, I see what you mean…." She glared at him again.

"Well then why did you come out here?" she demanded, "Were you trying to look manly, did you think that you were going to be thought of as a coward?"

Leo looked down and said quietly, "No, that isn't the reason that I came out here."

"Oh, yeah, Valdez, then why did you?" she questioned.

"I came here to see you," he informed her.

"To see me?" she repeated confused.

"Yes, to see you, Rey," Leo confirmed, "to see you, is that too hard to believe?"

"Why would you want to see me?" she asked.

"Why do you think, Reyna?" Leo demanded. "Look, we'll talk about this later, at the moment I really can't talk; if a guard catches us we get a nice fun trip down to the dungeon." Reyna nodded and Leo walked away.

* * *

**JASON:**

Jason's plan was simple, they were going to show themselves to the king, let him know that he didn't own them, that, they weren't scared of him, and that they didn't take his wrath seriously. He wanted the king to have them on the back of his conscious every time he made a decision, for him to know that if he did do stupid, that some of his subjects weren't loyal, and that some of them were willing to fight for what they believe in, Jason wanted the crooked king to know that a rebellion could happen.

He was in the front of the crowd, looking at the king while he gave the crowd his lies, looking around at the people to see who was buying it and who wasn't, who was going to hunt him and his friends down and who wasn't, the looks weren't promising.

Just then he heard someone clear their throat beside him, he looked over curiously, and wished that he would disappear, Piper was standing beside him. She wasn't looking at him, and she didn't look angry, she looked more or less neutral, but he knew her way too well for that, she was very, very angry, he did the smart thing, he acted like he didn't see her.

While the king was going over the amount for their heads, Piper decided to talk, "So, Jase, I really appreciate you bringing me along."

A guard was looking their way, so Jason looked down for a moment, until he passed, then he looked at her, "Why did you follow?"

"Why do you think, Jason?" Piper demanded.

He sighed, "I know that you don't like worrying about me, but I am going to worry about you right now how's worrying about you going to help me?"

"Jason, I am at the moment the last thing that you need to be concerned about, at the moment, I would be worried about Jason Grace, because when Piper Mclean gets through chewing him out, he is going to need a new head."

Jason looked at her for a moment, before looking back at the king, her expression had changed: it had gone from neutral to annoyed; maybe bringing up the fact that he had to worry about her during a fight wasn't the best idea. He was going to get an earful and a coldshoulder from her later.

* * *

**SEPH:**

She was scanning the crowd for James, why they had picked her for the job, she had no idea, Seph had no love for this village, and coming back two days in a row wasn't high on her 'things I want to do' list. She walked along, trying to figure out where James would be. She thought that she saw black hair and blue eyes, so she took a turn and went in that general direction. Seph was looking around and saw that she was correct, one slight problem, James had his hood down, and a guard was walking around with one of the papers advertising the warrant for his arrest. He was looking all around and she had no idea what to do.

Thankfully at the last moment James seemed to realize what was happening, because, he pulled his hood up, and backed behind a really tall man, with a bandage on his head, and Seph recognized him, it was the horse keeper for the royal stables. She was going to go the other way, but she could _not_ risk losing James, in a crowd this size, she would be lucky to find him again. So she kept walking her face forward, hoping that he wouldn't see her, and of course he did. He frowned and his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"Well, don't you look familiar, pretty lady."

Seph looked up at him with raised eyebrows, trying to keep cool, "I am sorry, sir, I do believe that you have me confused with someone else."

"No, I don't believe I do, you are the person that did this to my head, and stole two of the knights' horses, and whatever you did to the rest of them that made them disabled. That was you."

"Remove your hand from my wrist… sir." She said the last word a bit forcefully.

"Not until you tell me where my horses are." He stroked her cheek with a rough hand. She did what came naturally: she kicked him in his soft spot as hard as she could.

"Remove your hand from my wrist."

He groaned, then stood straight up, "Why you little…." He raised his hand to strike her.

Neither of them had a chance to do anything before someone came out of nowhere and stood in front of her. "Get your hand off of her," he snapped, it was James.

"Oh, yeah, boy, and what makes you think that I am going to do that."

James had to look up to see him, and the man was a lot thicker in the torso than James, but he seemed completely confident. "Because she is not yours to hit, she is my girlfriend," he lied, "and I would prefer if you would drop your hand."

The man didn't drop his hand, if anything the grip he had on her wrist tightened. She let out and involuntary whimper of pain. James tensed at the sound, then fast as light his fist met the man's face, she heard the sickening crunch which was the man's nose, he let go of Seph's wrist and grabbed a hold of his face. "If you _ever_ come near her again, we are going to have some serious problems."

James grabbed Seph's hand and walked through the crowd away from the horse keeper. "You really have a knack for trouble, don't you?" James asked when they were safe.

"Yeah, I do," she agreed.

"The horse keeper said that he saw one of the boys on the paper over in here!" Seph's eyes widened.

A patrol was coming their way, Seph did the only thing that came to her head: she grabbed the fabric of his cloak and pulled his lips to hers. In his shock he jumped slightly, then tried to pull back, but she kept a firm hold on him, until she felt the footsteps of the patrol disappear. She pulled away from him, feeling kind of awkward. James just looked at her as if she had fallen from space.

* * *

**ANNABETH:**

She glared at her best friend as he looked at her uncomfortably. This was going great until she heard someone yell, "THE TRAITORS ARE HERE!" The whole crowd went silent, before the noise went up to a hundred time the volume that it had been originally. People were bustling around, trying to leave the square, trying to find one of the boys, or jumping out of the way of the knights and the guards. Annabeth and Percy made a mad dash for the forest, but he saw that Leo, Frank, Hazel, Reyna, James, and Seph were surrounded by guards, villagers, and knights.

Percy saw and turned right around followed by Annabeth. Jason was the first one to pull out his weapon, closely followed by everyone else. Some guard went after Piper, and he lost his hand. They broke through the lines and joined their friends. "Come on," Percy muttered, "we can do this."

Everyone looked at them, no one daring to come close in fear of losing a limb like the last guy. "Surrender," one of the knights said, "you have no chance of escape!"

Annabeth looked around at her friends, none of them looked like they wanted to surrender at the moment. She looked at the people, most of them were old men and farmers armed with pitchforks, there were only a dozen guards and half that many knights, they could make it out.

"Guys, we can do this," Annabeth informed them.

They seemed to realize that she was right because James said, "I think we do have a chance to escape."

"Ready, you guys," Percy whispered, "on three. One… two… THREE!" Every one jumped at their opponents. Annabeth had three farmers and a guard came at her, the farmers were disposed of with one flash of her dagger, the pitchforks fell on the ground in half. The guard wasn't as easy. He'd had years of training by the finest swordsmen in the land, and Annabeth had been trained by Percy. He attempted to take off her head with his long blade, but Annabeth ducked and tried to drive her dagger in a chink in his armor below his chest, but he backed up out of the way, she had enough time to take her breath before he came back at her this time he tried for her side, which was his mistake, she took advantage of the momentum that he had going to her left side, she kicked his right leg out and shoved him as hard as she could to the left, the guard toppled to the ground, she kicked him in the head, knocking him out.

An older man came at her with a blade, he swung at her, and she just moved out of the way, grabbed his wrist, and forced the blade out of his hand. Two more guards and a knight came at her, she had no chance, she was about to charge at them when an arrows appeared in their backs. Annabeth looked over and saw that the campsite had sent reinforcements to their aid, Thalia and Will both lead the way, arrows flying at the villagers.

Annabeth sighed in relief; that was until a knight yelled, "Get the leader!" The person nearest to Percy punched him in the face, knocking him out, the knight that gave the order picked Percy up over his shoulder, and they ran out, the rest took this moment of confusion to get out.

"PERCY!" Annabeth screamed, she was about to tear after him, when Frank and Jason grabbed her.

"Annabeth, don't worry, we're going to get Percy back!" James said, "but right now we need to go, the knights are coming again." That statement woke her up, she spun around with the rest of them and ran into the one place that the king's soldiers would not follow: the forest.

* * *

**Alright, another chapter finished! Now if you saw any grammatical problems, I am sorry, I didn't catch any, but I just feel like something is wrong in that field. So review and tell me what you think, and what you think should happen, I am always open to suggestions.**


	4. The Sentence and Serious Problems

**THE SENTENCE AND SERIOUS PROBLEMS**

**JASON:**

He felt like someone had stabbed him in with a hot knife. Percy, his brother was gone, and there was nothing that he could do about it. James had his hand over his chest, where a knight had managed to cut him. Jason was pulling Annabeth along with James saying words of encouragement, Thalia was talking as well. When they were halfway through the forest, James literally collapsed.

"James!" Seph shouted running up to him. She lifted his head up off the ground, he was unconscious. Seph immediately pulled his shirt off, and they all saw that the cut was a lot deeper than he let on; it was gushing out blood and had a nasty yellowish color on the outside.

"Alright… everyone back to the camp… Will stay with me, the rest of you leave." Everyone got up, but Seph stayed right beside him, his head in her lap, refusing to so much as take her eyes off of him. "Seph," Jason attempted, more people would only slow them down. "Seph please leave, go with the other crowd, I know that you don't want to, but we can get him there faster by ourselves."

She looked up at him, her eyes were extremely moist and he was shocked, normally Seph was not one to cry. She nodded, and ran off to the crowd.

Will examined him, when he looked up his face showed no trace of whether or not James was okay. "He's lost a lot of blood, and if we don't stop it soon, we are going to be in trouble. Will had a box with him, so Jason just stood around while Will went to work on James, about ten minutes later, he said, "Alright, we're good, all we have to do now, is get him back to camp." Jason looked over and saw that James' chest was covered with a layer of gauze which was already tinged red.

Just then James stirred a bit in his sleep, muttering something, Jason didn't quite catch what he said, but the he muttered it again a bit louder, and there was no mistaking what word he said, "Seph."

"Well," Will said, "this is perfect blackmail. And I knew it."

Jason rolled his eyes, "You've been spending too much time with the girls."

Jason put one of James' arms around his shoulder and Will did the same with the other, and they dragged him along in the forest, trying to get to camp as quickly as possible.

"You know," Will joked. "We should have asked one of Clarisse's brothers to stay; they could have carried him like it was nothing." Jason nodded in agreement as the two of them walked ahead, dragging their friend along behind them.

**PIPER:**

Seph was freaking out, her eyes were watery, yet she wasn't crying, she was blinking them back, Annabeth was worse, she was walking alongside Thalia, sniffling. The mood was so heavy that she felt like everyone was going to suffocate under it if it didn't go away soon.

Thirty minutes later they broke through to the clearing and Sally came walking up, she scanned the crowd, and saw all the gloomy looks that they were giving her, "What happened?" Sally questioned.

Apparently Annabeth couldn't take it anymore, she completely broke down, sobbing on Thalia's shoulder, the aching of her sobs was almost too much to bear. "Come on Annabeth," Thalia pleaded. "We'll get him back!"

"Get who back?" Sally questioned.

Piper looked up and saw that no one else was going to answer, so she decided to herself, "I am so sorry, Mrs. Jackson, Percy was arrested."

Percy's mother just stood there, frozen in place, looking at the crowd in disbelief, before she took in a deep breath, visibly pushing the tears away. "Anything else?"

Piper saw an involuntary tear run down Seph's cheek as someone carelessly called out, "James was slashed in the chest, they were taking care of him in the forest, but it didn't look very good."

Piper felt a burning aggravation rise in her chest, how could someone say that as if they were commenting on the weather? She knew who said it. It was Drew. "Drew," Thalia snapped, "don't just shrug it off like that, a man is down! He's important to a lot of people here!"

"What_ever,_ Thalia, people die every day, why should we care about one person," Drew demanded. At the word _die_ tears started falling freely from Seph's eyes. Her friend Skylar and her sister McKenna came over to comfort her.

"Drew," Piper snapped at her half-sister, "this is really not the time for you to be the self-obsessed snob that we all know you are, save it for later!"

"Shut it Mclean, you're just…." She trailed off; probably due to the glare that Thalia was shooting her.

"Piper's right. Everyone, tonight relax, it's been a stressful day," with Percy gone Annabeth was normally the second in command, then it was Jason, but at the moment they were preoccupied with problems, so the responsibility fell to Thalia. "Piper, bring Seph into my tent, we need to calm them down."

**PERCY:**

When he came to, he was in a small room, on a disgusting floor, immediately he jumped to his feet, which he immediately regretted, he felt weightless, then almost fell over, he leaned on the wall, his head throbbing. His vision was fuzzy, and he thought about what happened while it cleared. A tall knight made his way over to him, while another person shouted "Get the leader!" the last thing that he remembered was a fist coming towards him too fast for him to do anything about.

At last his vision cleared and he was able to take in his surroundings in a bit more detail. The room was circular, and dimly lit by a small barred window, on the other side of the window was a huge door, that was probably heavily locked from the other side. On the right wall was a small wooden bench that looked so old that touching it would cause the wood to crumble to bits. The last wall that he looked on was perhaps the most important, a plate of old bread and a bucket of water was laying, he wasn't thinking of eating at it at the moment but he didn't know how long he was going to be there.

He was just about to sit back down when the door swung open, as soon as he figured out who it was, his lip curled in distaste.

**JAMES:**

When he came around he was being dragged, his arms around two people's necks when he did open his eyes to see who it was the effort drained him and for nothing, because he vision was so fuzzy that he couldn't even tell where he was.

"Jason," Will's voice called, "I think he's awake."

"Oh, thank God! Seph will be pleased." Seph, why would Seph care?

Then his brain took him back on an involuntary flashback and he practically felt her lips crushed against his, he knew that it was nothing special, she was doing it to hide his face from the guards, but he still felt funny.

"James," Will's voice said, bringing him back to the present, "James, can you hear me."

James wanted to answer, but if he did the energy required might send him back into unconsciousness.

"Okay," Will told Jason. "Maybe that requires too much energy he is low on blood at the moment."

Another memory hit him: he was trying to convince an elderly man to put down his blade, out of nowhere a guard jumped out at him and cut his chest.

"We only have a short distance to the camp, like five minutes, let's go."

With that said the two boys towed James at a faster pace to the camp, or at least that was where he thought that they were going.

**PERCY:**

Luke was in the doorframe, looking at Percy, a sneer on his face. "Well Jackson, how's it hanging?" Then he smiled as if he had made a clever joke.

"Not too bad, how about you Castellan?"

As expected he ignored the question and said, "The king has requested an audience with you."

"If it is just a request," Percy said, "I think that I'll just deny it."

Luke snapped his fingers, and two knights with chains came in and cuffed his hands and feet.

"Guess it wasn't much of a request," Percy muttered. He stood up at the point of a sharp blade and walked out of the room, muttering under his breath about proper etiquette to see if he could get on the guards' nerves, but to no avail… then again with a king like that he would have to try harder.

Just then they stopped in the front of a huge wooden door that was decorated in beautiful gemstones. The door went up to the first floor roof, jewels embedded all the way up. Luke walked forward and pushed the doors open. The guard behind him poked him in the back with his sword, so Percy walked forward. The throne was empty, but they shoved him through the long room and made him get on his knees four feet from the throne. The three captors got on their knees as well just in time for the monster himself to come out.

Percy immediately got to his feet, not even bothering to hide the contempt in his eyes for this tyrant. They golden eyed king just smiled at him, as if they were old friends. It took all of Percy's willpower not to spit on the ground at the king's feet.

"So," the king said in his deep voice, "Perseus Jackson, it is you and your group of… helpers, that have been stealing from the royal funds."

Percy couldn't help it, he looked at the king and spit on the ground, one of the guards lurched forward, ready to strike him, when the king held up his hand, and the guard went back to where he was originally standing.

"Royal funds?" Percy snorted at the king. "That money is supposed to better the town, not to pay for your parties and your furniture, some of the people outside have never slept on a bed, while you have so many beds that you probably couldn't count them all! That money is not yours; that money is for the people!"

"Well, aren't we a patriot," Kronos said in a mocking voice.

Percy just looked at him; this was the first time that he had ever met his royal majesty, and the utter disgust that he felt was like nothing that he ever felt before.

"I do believe that makes you guilty, there will be a party tomorrow, and he shall be the main attraction." Kronos said lazily.

His insides burned with relentless rage. "And how will I be used as your little attraction?" Percy demanded.

The king regarded him with a sinister smile, "Your death will be at the party of course!" The king turned to his right hand man, "Luke can you see that the gallows are ready in the courtyard?"

Luke bowed and said, "Of course Your Majesty." With that he left the room.

"Take the little boy back to his cell, oh, and pass the word around: a masquerade ball!" Kronos said.

Percy spat in Kronos' direction once more before being led out of the throne room at sword point.

**SEPH:**

She was waiting anxiously at the camp, she wasn't in hysterics anymore, but she was still worried. She was pacing back and forth outside Thalia's tent while Thalia, Annabeth, and Piper watched her. Seph wasn't letting it show, but she was about to pull her hair out, or bang her head against a wall. She felt like a nervous wreck. She was looking around the camp when she heard footsteps; she dashed for the source of the noise.

Jason and Will came through, carrying a limp James, they walked over to the healers' tent and Seph followed them inside. Will walked over to the small table and picked up a large jar and a small cup. He handed the cup to Seph and poured some of the liquid inside.

"James," Will said, "I know that you can hear me, so just listen carefully, Seph is going to give you some medicine, it is going to work almost instantly, just don't try to bite her hand off." He nodded at Seph and she walked over to his side. "You can talk to him, he can hear you, but he can't talk at the moment."

Seph nodded; Will and Jason stepped out of the Tent. "Hey James," Seph ventured, "it's just you and me now."

His mouth opened slightly, but the movement was slow, she could tell that a great deal of energy was required for that simple movement.

She put the cup over his mouth and said, "Alright, James," Seph said, "I'm about to pour it." She tilted the cup and a stream of the nectar came out of the cup and down his throat. Reflexively he swallowed it. She poured the whole cup into his mouth then placed it back on the small table; she saw a chair and decided to pull it up. Will said that the effects were instantaneous, but she had no idea how true that was.

James was getting the color back in his face that the loss of blood had taken from him, his breathing was a lot steadier and he was moving around more. His eyes fluttered open, and he was scanning the room, when he spotted Seph, his face lit up in a smile.

"Hey," he said, his voice was rough and weak, it came out in nothing more than a whisper, but he was talking and awake, that was all that mattered.

She smiled down at him and said, "How're you feeling?"

"Well," he admitted, "I have felt better." He sat up.

"No, James," Seph said in protest. "Please lay down." She wanted push him back down, but he was bandaged so thickly that she had no idea where he wasn't injured.

He simply ignored and jumped off the cot. She got right in front of him, and looked at him, "James, please rest a bit."

James looked at her with his intense blue eyes, "Come on Seph, I'm fine!"

She looked at him, eyebrows raised, "I don't think so."

"It doesn't hurt," James insisted. He sounded just like he did before he was injured. "Look you can touch it."

He grabbed her hand, and placed it over the spot that was cut, her hand felt tingly. She looked up and James and saw that he was smiling superiorly at her. "I still think that you should wait for Will or another healer to look at it."

"Seph I'm fine, it's so nice of you to be concerned, but there is no need to."

"James there is always a need to be worried about you."

Just then someone cleared their throat. Seph looked over, and saw Jason standing there; she realized that James still had his hand wrapped around hers on his chest. She pulled her hand away, blushing furiously.

**LEO:**

Reyna and him went walking when they got back to the camp to talk about Leo's reasons for wanting to see her. He looked at her, not believing his luck, she was there, she was with him, and they were safe, the two of them weren't at that wretched castle talking in hushed whispers, they could talk as loudly, as freely, and as openly as they wanted.

"Okay," Reyna said, gripping his hand as they jumped over a fallen tree, "we're here." Leo looked around and saw that she was right; a green clearing was in front of him looking out at the bay. He led her over to the opening by the bay and the two of them plopped down.

"So," Leo said, feeling a bit shy, which was so unusual.

"Alright Leo," Reyna prompted. "You said that you would explain."

"Reyna," Leo began, "why do you think that I would go out there to see you, why would I risk life and limb to see you? Because I am completely crazy about you! I didn't say anything because I didn't want anything awkward between us, and let's face it, what would a girl like you want with a guy like me?"

"You like me?" she asked in a small voice, as if afraid of the answer.

"Yes, Reyna, I like you… hell, I think I might love you," he confessed, looking at her for the first time since they started talking, with a start, he saw that she was smiling.

"One last question Valdez, why would you have a chance with me?"

Leo looked down at the ground and said, "You're you, Reyna, you are beautiful, fierce, intelligent, kind…." He trailed off, then started back up again, "And me, come on Reyna, how do I deserve you? What have I ever done to deserve you? You could do so much better." He pulled his knees to his chest and sat there, waiting for the sting of rejection that was about to come.

Instead of rejection, she hugged him. He could have cried in relief. Just then someone, Skylar, came running through to find them.

"Reyna! Leo!" she yelled frantically, ignoring the way they were situated. "Campfire! Now!

With that, she raced off, "Okay," Reyna said, "campfire… who gave her sugar?"

**JASON:**

Well, this was awkward… he just walked in on… well he really didn't know, but he did know that he wished he wouldn't have walked in. He just stood there, looking at the two of them, it didn't help that James was shirtless, and Seph had been touching his chest, then her cheeks were on fire.

"Alright," Jason ventured, "I'm going to forget that I saw that, and we can go back to not being scarred for life."

James nodded and glared at him at the same time. Seph backed away from him, still blushing like mad.

"Well, um…" he said not really sure what to say, the image of what he just saw, whatever it was, was still etched in his mind, probably burned there for all eternity.

"I think you're still scarred," James pointed out.

"Yeah," Jason said, "Um, I'm going to go, but when you're done… the campfire," he was backing away, "but… I'm terribly sorry." With that he turned and walked briskly out of the room, trying his best not to break out into a full run."

He wasn't far enough away to miss the stream of curses directed at him from James in the tent. He walked up to Piper, a disturbed look on his face.

She had an eyebrow raised, "Why is James cursing loudly, and why do you look like that… better question, what happened?"

"I would rather not say," Jason admitted, wincing as he thought back to what happened.

Everyone was walking to the campfire, waiting for someone to explain their presence.

James and Seph walked out, and sat on opposite sides of the campfire from each other, James was shooting him glares and Piper was laughing… all in all, not a good time.

"Alright," Will said, "one of my scouts came back with word from the village, and I think we can save Percy…."

**Alright, I just wanted to thank all of you that reviewed, and I will say that normally I won't update so fast, I just have writer's block for all of my other stories. Now normally I am not like this but I just have to say that the people that review say that it is good, but I only have like twelve reviews… so if you could please review and tell me what you think of the story because reviews= inspiration and inspiration= quicker updates that are awesome :)**

**Oh, and I asked Rick Riordan if I could have rights to PJO and HoO… he had the nerve to deny it to his biggest fan… therefore I still own nothing :/**


	5. The Ball

**THE BALL**

**THALIA:**

"There's a masquerade ball coming up." Will informed them.

Thalia looked at her best friend; she could almost see the gears turning in Annabeth's head. "Alright, the other three wanted men, Frank, Jason, and James are going to need to go, then there is me, Zach, Nico, you guys need to come as well. Oh and Leo, we need you. To fit in, you're going to need to bring along a companion, if you can't they need to be able to dance, and you need to be able to fight alongside them."

With that she walked over to the Stoll brothers and Skylar and started to speak to them in hushed tones. Just then Nico walked up, "Hi, Thals," he said.

"Hey Nico," she said.

"You wanna go and save Percy with me?" he asked.

Thalia looked at him, smiling, "Sure death boy, sounds good." There was a reason why Nico and Zach were needed, they had a talent with death, they knew exactly how to kill… anything really, so he was a pretty good person to have your back.

"Alright, Thalia, Drew, Skylar, Connor, and Travis, I need you guys to go into town and find dresses that are good for this occasion, lavish, we need to be able to pass as nobles. We need seven dresses and seven suits." All of them nodded and got up.

"Okay…" Travis said while they were on the road, "Just let us know what you want and get out of our way." Thalia and Drew nodded; pickpocketing was considered the Stoll's and Skylar's expertise."

They made it to the dress shop, looking at all the dresses that the seamstresses had made for the noble women, waiting for their owners to pick them up.

"Skylar," Connor said, "distraction time."

She nodded and walked in, Thalia heard shouting, "I came in here last week and paid you!" Skylar's voice rang clear, "Were you _drunk?_ What do you mean you don't remember?"

"Alright, Ma'am, let me go to the back and check out my files." The lady said frantically. Thalia heard a door slam shut.

"Alright," Travis said. "That's out cue."

* * *

**PERCY:**

He woke up from a restless night's sleep, he was sore, groggy, and had a major headache, not that it would matter tonight. He sighed and thought of a way out of his predicament, but found none. _If only Annabeth were here, she would know what to do,_ he thought. That name left an ache in his chest. Annabeth, the girl that made his heart speed up whenever he looked her way, the girl that would freely argue with him and comfort him when needed it, she was his best friend and he loved her, but he never told her, and now he would never get a chance.

A door swung open and someone shoved in another helping of moldy bread and dusty, stagnant water. The man slammed the door shut and Percy glared at the door, as if willing it to open. But to no avail. He put his head in his hands, he wasn't afraid to die, but he didn't like waiting for it. He sat on the floor in the corner awaiting his death sentence.

* * *

**KRONOS:**

He was walking out of the throne room, smiling at the thought of that evening's party, people thought of him as a selfish king, who knew nothing about ruling, but the money that he took was rightfully his! Those people were his subjects; therefore their money was his to spend.

Kronos walked into his bedchambers and was waiting for the help to arrange his wardrobe for the evening; he was supposed to approve of it. If he didn't, those servants would be either banished from the kingdom, or simply hung along with that Jackson kid, depending on whether he was in a good or bad mood. The life of a king is a hard life indeed.

* * *

**JASON:**

He was out in the clearing with Piper, it was already settled who was going to go, Jason was going with Piper, James was going with Seph, Frank was going with Hazel, Will was going with Annabeth, Leo was going with Reyna, Zach was going with McKenna, and Nico was going with Thalia. Now all that was left was the wait. Thalia, the Stolls, and Will's girlfriend Skylar went out to steal dresses and suits for the ball.

The rising sun lit the bay on up with a golden fire that danced with every movement of water. Jason looked at it, trying to drown the urge to bust Percy out before that night in it. He was worried sick, sure they were going to hang him, so he was alive, but if Percy tried to break out, and he would, knowing him, they would kill him.

Piper seemed to notice his mood because she walked over and sat beside him, rubbing his back, "I'm sure he's fine."

"How can you know that, Piper?" Jason asked.

"Simple," Piper said smiling, "he knows that you and Annabeth will come up with something, you always do." He nodded, pretending to be satisfied with the answer, but in the back of his head the concern was nagging him.

"You know that you don't fool me," Piper informed him, "I know that you're still worried." She stood in front of him and placed his head in her hands, looking him in the eyes, "Jason, everything is going to be fine." All of his worries melted as he looked at her. He leaned over and kissed her softly.

When he pulled back, he said, "Thanks."

"No problem, Sparky," Piper replied, a smile on her face.

Just then Annabeth walked over, a deathly serious look planted on her face, "It's time."

* * *

**PERCY:**

He was sitting dejectedly in his cell when the door opened again, this time a guard dragging another prisoner, he looked scrawny and shaken up. The guard threw him on the ground and slammed the door shut. The boy looked to be sixteen, the same age as Percy, he stood up and so did Percy, he held out his hand.

"Percy Jackson," Percy said shaking his hand.

The boy looked at him with wide eyes, "So you're the one that is leading a revolt against the king?"

Percy frowned, "I'm leading no revolt."

"That isn't what the people say. Oh and I'm Grover by the way, Grover Underwood."

"Nice to meet you Grover, and if I manage to make it out of this mess, I might just lead one, I'm already an outlaw with the king's soldiers after me, why not a revolt leader?"

"But how will you get out?" Grover inquired.

"Well I was planning on doing it when the guards come; they're going to hang me in a few hours."

Grover's eyes widened, "You two?"

Percy nodded, "Well in that case I do believe I have a new recruit," he shook Grover's hand. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

* * *

**PIPER:**

Piper looked at Drew in disgust with the dress that she picked out; it was… it was _girly! _It was a pale pink with a ruffled skirt and sequins littered the top and it was strapless! Why in the name of Hades Drew wanted her in this she had no idea, all she knew was that she was going to have fun fighting in it. Drew was covering everything; she was a cosmetologist's apprentice before she came to the camp on the run from the king.

Piper was up first… oh the joy! She was dragged into Drew's tent and worked on, it seemed like it was hours later, in reality it was only like thirty minutes, when she stepped out of the tent, everyone looked at her with wide eyes, Jason had his mouth slightly opened and looked as though he would start drooling at any moment.

"What?" she demanded.

Reyna handed her a mirror, smiling slightly. "Take a look for yourself."

When Piper looked, she wanted to go into a hole and die, she was beautiful, no doubt, and she hated it, this was a lot of things, but it was _not _her! "Don't worry Piper," Jason said, walking over and putting an arm around her, "you only have to wear it for a few hours." Piper smiled at him gratefully.

"So I think I shall do Annabeth next!" Drew called.

She stepped forward muttering "Percy's worth it, Percy's worth it," under her breath.

**(Well instead of a description of the dresses, I am going to give you the urls:**

**It wouldn't let me so check out my profile, I shall put them up there)**

The boys were all in suits and looked amazing she was looking at complete strangers. "Okay," Nico sighed, "we need to go."

When they arrived Seph said, "Do you remember what Drew told us about proper etiquette?" Everyone nodded, and Piper put her arm through Jason, so that he was escorting her, as was the custom.

"Masks on," Annabeth said. Everyone hid their faces behind the masquerade masks, and walked in, immediately separating from each other, walking around in pairs, searching for their missing leader.

* * *

**FRANK:**

Him and Hazel were walking arm in arm around the courtyard, trying to look casual. People kept sending them sideways glances, because of Frank's size. The only good thing is that most of the nobles were too intimidated to come and talk to them.

Frank looked around, but every time he did his heart would get heavy, the gallows loomed on the other side of the courtyard threateningly. There was a good chance that all of them would end up with their necks in a noose tonight and the nobles would get more than they bargained for. _Quit being pessimistic,_ a voice in his head scolded.

He sighed, and Hazel looked at him questioningly, and he just shook his head, letting her know that, he couldn't talk about it openly. She just nodded and looked at the harpists playing.

"Where is he," Hazel murmured.

"Where is who?" a too familiar voice said from behind them.

Frank and Hazel turned around and ran into the king himself. _Well, _Frank thought, _I'm dead._

* * *

**PERCY:**

He and Grover were talking in hushed tones, "They are going to bind our wrists, but not very tightly," Percy said, "if we really try, we can, get out, but we need to wait until we get to the courtyard, that way we can slip away in the confusion."

Grover nodded, "Makes sense," he frowned for a moment. "Someone's coming."

Sure enough, the door opened, and Luke Castellan walked in, Percy glared at him while he spoke, "The king has summoned you, he is willing to bargain with you for your, how did he put it… oh, yeah, for your pathetic existence."

"I've gotta hear this, on one condition though," Percy said, "Grover comes with me." Luke glared at the pair and shrugged. He snapped his fingers and guards came in and hauled them out of their cozy prison room.

They made it to the throne room and the king was lounging around on his chair he was apparently already ready for the ball. The guards tried to force Percy down to his knees, but he stood his ground, Grover, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky, he was shoved down to the floor, sprawled on his back.

Percy glared at Kronos. "Why did you take us out of our, _luxurious,_ prison room? Trying to grace us with your company?" He asked sarcasm and contempt dripping from every word that flowed out of his mouth. Once again a guard came over to strike him, only this time Kronos allowed it. His fist slammed into his jaw, but Percy stood his ground.

"I'll give it to you, Perseus, you have guts, I admire that trait, but that trait will also get you killed. In your case it is going to kill you, unless…."

The king trailed off, letting the fact that there was a chance that he wouldn't be killed sink in. Percy was still glaring at him. "Unless what?" he demanded.

The king smiled and said, "Like I said, I admire your courage, and your will, I propose this, you will be spared, if you become general to my armies, the general at the moment is an old man, and is going to retire soon, Perseus, work for me, spread my will throughout the whole entire kingdom, fight my battles! If you work for me, I will spare you and your friends, I shall give them the same choices."

Everything that he said sounded so good, him, his friends, _Annabeth!_ They would all be okay! Jason and Piper would live in peace, he would be able to tease Seph and James, Frank and Hazel could get married, Leo could be with Reyna without complications, they might be able to get Thalia and Nico together. Everyone could be happy. Then he thought about why he did what he did, how the common people lived like dogs and how the king steals the vital money out of his pockets. He thought about how much he trusted the king and how much his friends trusted him, lastly he thought about why he was in the forest in the first place, he thought about how that monster had his father hung as a traitor, when his father did nothing, and Percy knew that he couldn't agree to the king's terms, no matter how much he wanted to, because he and his friends would be slaughtered as soon as he used Percy to find them.

"Not interested," Percy informed the crooked king.

Kronos scowled, "Oh really, I offer you an easy way out, I offer to save your pathetic life and you just throw it back in my face!" He walked over to him and said, "I will enjoy to see your lifeless body hanging high from the gallows! Guards, get this traitor out of my sight!" The guards came over and forcefully dragged them out of the throne room. When they got to their cell, Percy and Grover had numerous bruises and cuts on their bodies, and Percy's left hand was sore, he could barely move it, he was sure that it was broken.

"Well," Percy groaned, "I don't think that could have gone any better."

"Really," Grover asked sarcastically, "because I'm pretty sure that it could have."

"Don't worry, we'll get out of this," Percy assured his newfound friend.

Grover nodded, though Percy could tell that he didn't believe him. He didn't blame him; he was having a hard time believing it himself.

* * *

**JAMES:**

He and Seph walked into the party and away from the others, no need to attract unwanted attention. He still felt awkward around her, and he hadn't said a word to her, he had no idea what to say. The last thing that he said to her was, "I need you to go with me." Then he walked away, he wasn't sure why but whenever he would look at her, or think about her he would think back to that tent, and feel so embarrassed, even though it meant nothing, what bothered him the most was how quickly Jason jumped to the conclusion that he'd interrupted a 'moment.' but he also knew that there was no other girl that he trusted more with his life.

"Alright, James," Seph said, looking around and making sure that they were out of trouble's earshot, "when we get Percy back, we have to talk." Just then James cursed a guard was walking straight in their direction, seemingly with a purpose, this was not a time to be taking chances, so he dragged her to the spot where people were dancing to the music of the harp, and they started dancing slowly.

"You know this is just as good as any place to talk," Seph informed him.

James nodded, "Yeah, I guess it is."

"Look James, what happened earlier with Jason… whatever happened, we should forget it. We can just go back to being friends and enemies at the same time."

James sighed, he was about to agree when what he was really thinking rolled out of his mouth, "No, Seph, we can't," now that he started talking, he wasn't about to stop. "Please tell me that when we talk argue or whatever it is that we do, you don't feel anything when you come near me. Seph tell me that when we're fighting that you aren't scared out of your mind about whether I'm okay or not. When I was hurt in the forest, did you feel anything? Hell, Seph, do you feel anything now?"

She looked up at him, she looked scared, probably about how James was acting, confused, more than likely about how she felt, and she looked almost hesitant, as if she had no idea what he felt.

"I can tell you, Seph that I do, I feel something now, and when you're hurt it's like someone has stabbed an ice shard through my heart…." He would have said more but he was distracted by a movement by the gallows, it was the moment that they had been waiting for, Percy was coming, and from the looks of it, he'd found a friend.

* * *

**Well I would Just like to thank all of you who reviewed! Also I would like to thank for finding the ball dresses for the girls... I wouldn't have been able to do it :)**

**Oh, and Rick still refuses to give me rights, so until that happens... I own nothing **


	6. Escaping

**Thank you McKenna Suave Daughter of Poseidon (remove spaces) for the idea for Hazel!**

**Escaping**

* * *

**PERCY:**

He and Grover were sitting in the prison room, watching the sun set out of the tiny window, he sighed, knowing that it would soon be time. "Grover," Percy said, "just do what I say and everything should be fine."

His friend nodded, he was scared, Percy could tell, Percy couldn't blame him though, the plan was risky and there was a lot of chances that something could go wrong, but they had no other choice, no matter how bad this plan was, they had no other one and a bad plan was better than no plan at all.

The door opened and Luke came in, he said the same thing that Percy was thinking, "It's time."

Him and Grover both stood up, and two guards came over and loosely bound their wrists with rope.

They walked out and Percy saw something shiny on leaning against the wall as he walked out, it was Riptide. _My weapon,_ he thought, _I can't fight without my weapon!_ The plan was going to have to change a bit. Percy stopped dead in his tracks and tripped the guard that was behind him. Frantically, he twisted his wrists, earning rope burn and a looser bond; he pulled out his wrist just in time for the next guard to come at him. He ducked as he swung his sword at him. He came up and head butted the guard in the chin, making him topple backward and fall. Percy grabbed his dagger and undid Grover's bonds while Luke was running toward him.

Percy shoved Grover out of the way and ran toward Luke, "Grover, get my sword, it's by the wall!" Percy shouted. Grover nodded and ran out; Luke came at him, full force holding nothing back.

* * *

**HAZEL:**

Kronos was standing right in front of them smiling at her, or at least that was what she assumed that he was doing behind his mask. "One of our friends wandered off, we were wondering where he went, your highness," Hazel said in a formal voice.

"Well, maybe I could help you, who is this friend of yours?" Kronos asked politely, which made Hazel and Frank suspicious.

"Thank you for your offer your highness, but I think we see him now," Hazel said as she curtsied.

"Look Frank theirs Stewart over there," she lied as the pointed in a random direction and dragged him over there.

"That was a close one," she breathed.

Before Frank could reply they looked over towards the gallows, Percy was lead to the gallows along with a friend.

This was the moment that they had been waiting for.

Hazel walked briskly to the gallows, and Percy was there, alright, but he wasn't in chains, he was free and they were running. Just then McKenna was beside her, with Zach in tow.

"Anyone have a clue?" McKenna asked.

"Not one," Zach said.

Hazel shook her head, and said, "Zach we just might need to use your expertise soon."

"Yeah," Zach agreed, "we just might."

"McKenna," A voice that was behind Hazel said, "McKenna, what's going on?"

Hazel turned and saw Seph and James standing. Behind them was Annabeth and Will. Jason, Piper, Thalia and Nico were nowhere to be seen. All of them looked towards the gallows at a frantic Percy and a strange boy.

As they got closer, it dawned on her why they were like that, there had to be fifty knights behind them. "Well," Frank said, "this keeps getting better and better."

Percy and his friend jumped off the stage that the gallows were on and took off in a run. Soon the knights followed. "Alright," Annabeth said, pulling out her dagger, "stop as many of them as you can!"

* * *

**JASON:**

He ended up fighting in a group with Piper, Zach, and McKenna. All of them were side to side, their masks, tossed aside, that way they could actually see. They were surrounded by knights. Zach brought something out of his belt and threw it at the Knight in front of Jason; he dropped to the ground, where he lay, unmoving. Jason could only think about how glad that Nico and his brother are on his side.

Jason was brought out of his shock as two knights were fighting against him and McKenna. He prevented one from decapitating his friend, while she ducked and stabbed at the one trying to put a hole through his stomach. Jason kicked the knight with the flat of his foot and sent him stumbling backwards to the ground; while McKenna somehow managed to pull the helmet off the other knight and knocked him out with her sword. He saw that Piper and Zach were taking pretty good care of themselves, a pile of knights were on the ground before them, some breathing, others weren't so lucky.

"Jason, watch out!" McKenna shouted; as she blocked a strike that would have knocked his head clean off his shoulders. _Well, _Jason thought, _I should probably pay attention._

He stabbed at a chink in the knight's armor and he was a fraction of a second too slow. He fell to the ground grabbing at his wound. "Come on!" Jason shouted, "I think we've overstayed our warm welcome!" With that the four of them fought their way to the exit."

* * *

**NICO:**

Him and Thalia were at the other side of the Gallows where the crowd was considerably smaller, and they could get a better look. Percy and another boy were running for their lives, they jumped off of the stage, and pushed their way through nobles, trying to get out. Nico looked back and saw that there was about fifty knights after them. "Stop as many of them as you can!" Annabeth's voice rang out over the crowd. Nico took that as his cue to pull out his weapon. He grabbed Thalia's hand and they both ran forward to intercept the knights. She had a small dagger with her, she hated to use them, she was brilliant with a spear, but there was no way that they could have had one of those concealed. They ended up in a group of four it was them and Seph and James.

All of them were back to back, looking around as they knights surrounded them, there was ten to fifteen of them. "So," Seph said, as if striking up a conversation about the weather. "Teams?"

"Sounds good to me," Nico said, "Me and James can get the eight on the right, you guys get the seven on the left."

"Alright," James said.

"Agreed," Thalia put in.

"On three," Nico said, "One… two… THREE!"

James and Nico jumped to the right immediately intercepting startled guards. One came at him with a dagger in one hand and a knife in the other. He was wondering how someone could fight like that. He smiled easily as he dodged the knight's slash with his dagger and, tried to stab him in his stomach with his black sword, but the knight managed to jump out of the way, and ended up tripping over James, sending them both sprawling.

"Damn it, Nico!" James growled, jumping up from the ground and kicking the knight in the helmet.

"Sorry," he said, taking down another soldier.

James had taken three down, and there was three left, they were surrounded their large swords pointed at the two infiltrators. "Nico," James said, "if I don't make it out of this, I thought that you would like to know that I was the one that put that snake in your tent!"

Nico eyed him for a moment before looking back at the soldiers, "We'll settle this later, Tempest, and you're gonna make it, Seph would kill me otherwise." Nico didn't have to look over to see the blush on his face.

One of the knights came forward and started to attack the both of them at the same time, Nico spotted a weak point and shoved his sword into it, causing the man to wreath in pain before falling to the ground, completely limp. Both of the other knights seemed peeved about the death of their friend, Nico got that vibe from the fact that they both came running at them at the same time, screaming bloody murder at the top of their lungs. When they hit them it was like a full force hurricane, the strokes were maddeningly powerful and Nico couldn't seem to get a good shot in, that was until James was knocked backward… apparently having the same problem, and hit the knight with a painful thump. That left Nico and a really angry knight, the knight lunged at him, and Nico rolled under his feet and came up behind him, kicking him with the flat of his foot, trying to knock him off balance.

It worked, knocking him right on top of James with a crash that made him wince, and James groan in pain, "Di Angelo!"

Nico was silently laughing as he helped his friend up, the girls ran over, and Seph was looking at James in concern, "I'm fine, sheesh," he said. Nico saw Seph roll her eyes. There were more knights coming their way, and with James' luck this volley, Nico would end up killing him.

"We need to go," Nico announced.

"Agreed," Thalia said, he looked over and felt a twinge of protectiveness go through him, she looked as exhausted as he felt, her dress was ripped in numerous places and she was covered in nicks and bruises that were already forming.

"Come one," James muttered and they ran out being chased by ten more knights was enough to quicken their pace. They managed to find Jason, Piper, McKenna, and Zach, they were running for dear life, so Nico thought that it would be a good idea to follow their example.

They managed to make it to the forest their breaths coming out in ragged gasps. "What the hell?" James said looking around, "where is Percy?"

"Here," a voice behind Nico said.

* * *

**JAMES:**

He looked and saw a beaten up Percy, he looked rough, but he still managed to smile like everything was fine. Just then there was sound from behind the bushes. James immediately whipped his sword out and pointed in the direction of the noise, Annabeth, Will, Leo, and Reyna broke through. As soon as she saw Percy, she didn't hesitate, she walked over and threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him.

Everyone was cheering and wolf whistling. "Well," Leo shouted, "it's about time!"

"I swear, Percy," Annabeth said once they broke apart, "If you ever do something that stupid again, I just might hurt you!"

Percy smiled and said, "I do stupid stuff all the time! You know that!"

"You know," James said, "I think we can all agree on that."

"Oh," Seph said, "and you never do anything stupid do you, Tempest?"

He shrugged, "I know."

Just then Percy kissed Annabeth again, and he felt a sad pang in his heart. Quietly he slipped away, not sure how much more of the lovey dovey moments that he could take. Besides he wanted some time to think things over, he needed the silence. As he walked through the trees, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him, but he was sure that it was just his jumpy nerves. When he made it to the desired clearing, he sat down and closed his eyes, trying to relax the sore parts of his body, but sadly, thanks to Nico, that was pretty well all of his body.

"James?" He jumped up and looked over, Seph was leaning against a tree farther back in the clearing.

"Thank you for giving me a heart attack, Seph," he said groaning as he sat back down.

She cracked a small smile as she watched him struggle… some friend.

When he got situated again, he looked over at her and said, "Is there anything that I can help you with?"

"I don't know… I saw you walk off, and I figured something was wrong, so I walked over to see what it was,"

James smiled, "Well, thanks for the concern, but it seems like Nico was against me, and was out to get me."

"Yeah, he was muttering something about snakes…" Seph trailed off, then started back up. "You were the one that put that snake in his tent last month!"

James nodded, "The Stolls dared me."

Seph rolled her eyes, walked over to where he was sitting, and sat beside him. "You know maybe we should finish that talk that we were having earlier."

James absently nodded, thinking about what a lucky guy he was, he was going to be rejected by the girl that he likes and beat up by one of his friends all in one day.

"James," Seph started.

James cut her off, "Seph, why don't we do this later, I know that this is the last thing that you want to do at the moment with everything that's going on, sooooo," he stuck out his hand, "friends?"

She cracked a smile of gratitude, and shook his hand.

* * *

**REYNA:**

She was sitting on a piece of wood by the campfire, watching the embers glow, thinking about everything that was going on in her insane life at the moment. She thought back to when she was working for that master of hers, she was supposedly experienced in the magical arts, and how Percy and Annabeth had ruined it for her there. She put her head in her hands and thought about how her life would be if she hadn't have been forced to run. She would probably still listen to that woman babbling about how men were pigs that did her wrong, and how they were the only one that would be able to live and to think for themselves.

She disagreed with Circe, she believed that she found people that weren't pigs, well there were some here, but there was a bad one out of every bunch. Her thoughts turned to Leo, he liked her! She was not under any circumstances a girl that thought about that at all, but she couldn't help but smile. She'd had a crush on him for about a year now, well she refused to admit it, even to herself, but she did.

She also thought about how everyone was under the impression that she had feelings for Jason. Piper was one of her best friends, and she was Jason's girlfriend! How could she _ever_ have feelings for her best friend's boyfriend? The very thought that Drew and her friends would gossip about something like that was preposterous! Piper knew that and that was all that mattered, but what about Leo, did he know?

She got up and she resolved to find out. Jason was her best friend, he was like a brother to her, and that was all, she loved him, but in a sisterly way. She had no romantic interest in him. She saw him with Will Solace, they were talking about something to do with archery. Skylar was pulling him away from Leo, so that was a good thing. She walked over and tapped on his shoulder.

He spun around, and when he realized who it was, he started to smile. "Hey, Reyna!"

She said, "So what were you and Will doing?"

"Oh, well," he said, "Will was complaining about the accuracy of the shot of the bow, I mean Will and his troop's shots are remarkable, but according to him they are terrible, so he asked me if there was anything that I could build to improve their accuracy."

Reyna nodded, "Well, is there?"

Leo thought for a moment, "There might be, but if I told you the details, you would be bored to death."

Reyna smiled, "You know those stupid roomers that Drew and her friends say around camp? You know the ones about me and Jason?"

Leo nodded, he looked confused, but if Reyna wasn't mistaken she saw a hint of sadness and he looked slightly scared of what she was going to say.

"You know that they're full of it, right?" she asked him.

Leo smiled and nodded, she could practically feel the relief emanating off of him, "Of course I know that!" He was silent for a moment, so he broke the silence, "Come on, Juniper told me that the kitchen was making a special dessert for Percy's return. It's my favorite… and his, chocolate cake!"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the trees, she followed smiling and rolling her eyes… no matter how loveable that boy was, he was such an idiot.

* * *

**Well this chapter ended with an adorable Leyna moment, you can thank Tratie4everr for that! She is a genius for an author, I especially love her story Stealing the Sun's Heart, go and check it out!**

**Anyway back to the story at hand, the next chapter is going to be a bonus chapter, it will be for the couples in the story, cause I know that a lot of them are being neglected and I hate it! My friend McKenna Suave Daughter of Poseidon (Remove spaces) is helping me with it. **

**Last thing, if you read any of my other stories… I am guilty of severe writer's block, but I am going to try to get through it!**

**A big thank you to all that have reviewed! You're awesome!**

**Almost forgot, I don't own PJO or HoO**


	7. Going Out

**I know that I said that this was going to be the bonus chapter, but I was sick of romance… just wrote like three chapters of it, so, yeah, this is just a short chapter, I'm sorry, though I hope you like it, and I apologize for the long wait. I own nothing, and on with the story!**

**ANNABETH:**

The next morning, Percy, Jason, James, Will, Nico, Zach, Grover, and Frank took off, leaving everyone behind at the camp, to take the money to Zeusberg. Piper, Annabeth, and Reyna decided to go off to the village, they needed more food supplies. Seph, Hazel, and Leo had to go and check the perimeter, making sure that everything was okay. Thalia, Skylar, and McKenna were going out to buy thread and other goods.

Annabeth and the others were walking down the shortcut to the village, not saying much, stuck in their own thoughts. Annabeth's thoughts went back to Percy, she was so ecstatic that he was okay, that he was back where he belonged.

"So," Reyna's voice brought her out of her thoughts, "how much do you want to buy today?"

Annabeth glanced at her change purse, she had fifty drachmas, and she knew that Reyna had forty or so denarii. "Just what we're lacking, I heard we were low on a few things, Juniper gave me a list."

Annabeth looked at it:

_Flour_

_Eggs_

_Meat (Chicken)_

_Rice_

_Sugar_

_Oats_

"Alright," Piper said cheerfully, "it shouldn't take too long."

Just then the trees broke and they were about half a mile from town. Annabeth sighed, what she would give for a break.

**THALIA:**

They'd made it to town like thirty minutes before and they were haggling with some craggily old lady for some fabric, she was seriously ripping them off.

"Come on!" Skylar exclaimed, "How can you try to sell this for fifteen drachmas! It's only five yards, that's three apiece!"

"So," the lady said, he voice sounded as dried out as she looked. "This is high quality!"

"High quality?" McKenna demanded. "I've seen thread bare clothes with higher quality than this!"

"You dare degrade my products!" the woman exclaimed. "Out! Out with you!"

Thalia looked at the old shop, it was dark and gloomy, and the wooden walls were rotting and looked as if they were going to collapse at any second. "We didn't want to be in here anyway, this dump is a health hazard!" Thalia said.

With that the three girls stormed out of the old shop.

"What now?" McKenna asked, the exasperation clear in her voice.

Thalia looked at Skylar, who had a sly smile on her face. "What?" Thalia asked.

"Don't worry about the fabric," she pulled her skirt up half an inch, and they saw the fabric hanging.

"How did you manage to do that?" Thalia asked in awe.

"What can I say," Skylar said, "I'm talented."

"Don't forget modest," McKenna said sarcastically.

"Aww," Skylar said, completely ignoring the sarcasm in the statement. "Thank you, McKenna, I try."

McKenna muttered something under her breath, that Thalia didn't catch, she probably didn't want to.

"Come on, we still need thread, if we're going to be able to sew together clothes… well Mrs. Jackson will, anyway."

They walked over to the next seamstress' shop and walked in, hopefully they wouldn't have to repeat the same action over again.

**LEO:**

They were looking around the forest, making sure that those huge black dogs hadn't strayed to close, they were viscous. Or that the soldiers hadn't gotten up the nerve to follow them into the 'haunted' forest. Leo heard a snapping twig, immediately he spun around to the noise, along with the other two. It was a squirrel.

_Valdez, _he thought to himself, _get yourself together!_

Seph let out a small laugh, she probably felt silly for getting so worked over something so harmless. Leo did.

"Come on," Hazel sighed, she was the one with the torch, even though it was daylight out, the trees were so thick that it was constantly dark outside.

They walked on a bit farther, when Leo's ears picked up the sounds of voices. At first he thought one of the smaller children had followed them out, but as he listened, they were deep like full grown men.

"Guys," Leo said quietly, "do you hear that?"

The girls frowned at him, "What-"

She was cut off, "Stand up! Hands up, NOW!"

"Oh, God," Hazel muttered. All at once, they darted to the spot where the noise had come from, just in time to see a whole troop of soldiers surrounding the camp.

On impulse, Leo started walking forward, dead set on killing each and every one of the soldiers that were threatening his home, but Seph and Hazel both caught him, pulling him back.

The man in the lead, Leo recognized him by the description that Percy gave him, it was Luke. Luke said, "Torch it!" The villagers were all in chains and shackles, being led out by a horse trotting at a quick pace. The smaller children were crying, while the adults were trying to keep them quiet, the teenagers had an impassive look on their faces. When they were far enough away, about ten soldiers threw their torches at the camps, catching on tents and invaluable supplies.

Seph was about to start yelling curses at the soldiers, he could see the blind rage and unsurpassed hate in her eyes. Immediately he clapped a hand over her mouth, and motioned for her to be quiet. It was tearing him apart, watching the fire tear apart his home, it was a sick joke considering the fact that the same thing killed his mother all those years ago, but he couldn't focus on that.

Hazel was staring at the blaze, the light reflecting off her shattered golden eyes, Leo's own eyes felt moist, he wiped them, and with a start, he realized that he was crying!

**PERCY:**

His contact wasn't in the archery shop like he was normally, Percy didn't see Chiron anywhere, instead a boy a bit older than him came out; he had black hair and blue eyes. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," Percy said. "Could you tell me where Chiron is?"

"Oh, he went out, he'll be back-"

Just then another person came in, he was in normal rags that the people of this poor village wore, but he had something shiny on his chest, it showed that he was the man in charge. The boy's eyes widened and he rushed out of the room before the man could take notice of him, but it was too late.

"Hey!" hey the man yelled. "Boy get out here!"

The boy came out of the back, this time, however, something was in his hand, it had a jagged shaped and it had a buzz going through as if it would give someone a shock if they were to touch it. The boy pointed it at the man, who proceeded to hold up his hands. "Out of my shop," he snapped.

"You're Kronos' runaway son, aren't you!" the man said , triumph in his voice. "Wait until the king hears about this! I'll be rich!"

The man ran out of the shop and the boy let out a long breath, looking at them, as if assessing the best way of killing them.

Percy held up his hands, "We aren't going to hurt you, we actually have a habit of pissing off the king."

The boy's eyes widened, "You're him! You're the one leading the revolt!"

Percy turned to Grover, "What's all this talk about me leading a revolt?"

Grover shrugged, "I told you that was what the people were saying."

"Alright," Percy said turning to the boy, "Quick question, who are you, exactly?"

The boy grinned, "You heard the man, I am Kronos' runaway son; the whole village was named after me. I am Zeus, son of Kronos, heir to his majesty's royal throne."

**LUKE:**

He walked down the large lavish hallway, the throne room was empty, and the king had told him to keep him informed of their progress. So Luke decided that his chambers would be the next thing to check. He was coming around a corner, when he heard a voice say, "Are you sure it was him?" It was Kronos

"Most definitely sire." An unfamiliar voice said.

"Very well, do _not_ breath a word of this to anyone else."

Just then a man with a large bag of something jingling… it sounded suspiciously like drachmas.

Luke walked into the room and bowed. "My Lord."

"News," Kronos said, appearing to forget all formalities, something must have been gravely wrong.

"We had the camp surrounded, out informant was quite helpful. But…." Luke trailed off, dreading the news that he was going to have to give,

"But what?" Kronos snapped, apparently not in the mood for delays.

"Jackson and the other wanted men were not with them, neither were the mystery women… though some of the descriptions varied, none of them matched any of them," Luke said, inwardly cringing at the thought.

Kronos stared at him, long and hard, his eyes harsh and cold, no sign of forgiveness or compassion were in them, Luke figured that he was about to get sentenced to the dungeons when Kronos sighed. "Castellan, I give you one job, one, I told you to capture the camp of outlaws, but you bring me back everyone but the outlaws that I wanted, bring them back here, or I will get someone more competent to do your job."

Luke bowed, sensing that his meeting with the king was over, "Yes sir," he stiffly turned around and exited the room, forming a new plan in his mind.

**Alright, I just have to say that you guys are the BEST FANS EVER! I can't believe how awesome you are, I am so sorry about this chapter's length, I was going to go farther, but I wanted to ask you something. If you haven't noticed it by now, it has almost a PJO feel to it, Kronos is in power and whatnot, I need a spy, I was wondering if anyone objected that I go by the book and use Silena as the spy. **


	8. Making Their Way Home

**DREW:**

She'd been called to another cell altogether, and she knew why. When she entered, she saw that it was a lot more lavish and comfortable than the other cells in this dungeon. It had a small bed, but it was better than the one that she slept in at that camp! It had a desk, and a chair with a mirror. Yeah it was basic, but she would endure it.

Drew saw that Luke was leaning against the wall. She crossed the room and sat on her new bed, waiting for him to talk.

"Why wasn't he there?" Luke demanded.

Drew sighed she wasn't in the mood for this, but she managed to look at Luke with a bored expression, it seemed to irritate him the most. "I have no control over what Jackson does," she snapped, "what did you want me to do? Hold him there myself, I mean he isn't the only wanted one! You seem to forget that there is James, Jason, and Frank!"

"Alright," Luke sneered, "I know that you think you're something, but you are going to do what I ask you to do, or you're not going to like me very much after this."

"Yes," Drew remarked dryly, "because I was so fond of you before."

Luke smiled coldly at her before saying, "I am going to release you tomorrow, and you are going to find Jackson, let him know that the others will be let free if the wanted men turn themselves in."

Drew frowned, "Will they really?"

"No," Luke said simply.

Drew nodded, with that he marched out of the room, leaving her to her own devices.

* * *

**HAZEL:**

They stood in front of their beloved home, watching it go down in ashes; Hazel felt something warm sliding down her cheek: a tear. Leo was standing there, shattered to pieces; Seph was the only one that seemed to have recovered.

"Come on!" she hissed, "there's nothing we can do, we need to go and warn the others!"

"Warn the others?" Leo snapped. "What the hell are they going to be able to do?"

Seph looked at him and for a moment, Hazel thought that she was going to tell him off, but instead, she said, "Leo, you're forgetting that this was my home two," she pointed to where the prisoners had been taken, "those were my friends, and some of them were close enough to be family but we can't help them by standing here acting depressed."

Him and Hazel both nodded in assent, and they ran toward Zeusberg.

* * *

**FRANK:**

They stepped out of the shop, they needed to find that man, he was a menace and would end up killing the heir to the whole kingdom. As soon as he looked up at the forest, it had smoke rising out of it, and not cooking smoke either, this was a huge fire, and that could only mean one thing, and that was not very good. Frank looked over at Percy and the others and saw that their eyes were trained on the same spot.

"Oh, god," James muttered.

"You don't think…." Nico trailed off, but he didn't need to finish, Frank knew exactly what he meant.

"We've gotta get back to camp, _now!"_ Percy said.

Zeus walked to the back of the shop and came back with two horses. One black and one smoke grey. "Two of you can go on horseback, to inspect the damage; the rest of us can follow on foot."

Percy nodded, and said, "Come on, Jason, let's go."

"Here," Zeus handed Percy the black horse, "his name is Blackjack."

Percy nodded and jumped on his back.

Zeus handed the grey one to Jason, "Tempest."

Jason nodded and followed Percy's example. Without a second's hesitation, the two shot off toward their home, not looking back.

* * *

**JASON:**

Jason was urging his horse, Tempest, to go faster. He had to find out what was happening to his home, he needed to know that his family and his friends were okay. He was halfway to the campsite when he saw three people on the trail, none other than Leo, Hazel, and Seph.

Immediately he slowed his horse down and looked at them, searching for what happened in their eyes and their expressions. He slid off his horse and said, "What happened?"

Hazel said, "It's gone, all of it."

"How?" Jason demanded, he felt as if someone had ripped out his heart, and then replaced it with an ice cube.

"Soldiers," Seph said. "Jason, someone ratted us out." Her eyes scanned the surroundings, "where did you get the horse and where are the others, don't tell me that they got captured two!"

"No," Percy isn't too far behind me," as if to prove his point Percy just rode up and dismounted. "And the others are following behind. What about the girls that went to the village?"

"They aren't back yet, but we weren't expecting them back for some time yet, anyway," Leo said.

"What happened," Percy asked.

They all explained what happened.

Percy put his hands and took a deep breath. "We're going to get them back," he assured them.

"How?" Leo demanded.

"Simple," Percy looked up, defiance and anger blazed in his eyes. "If that bastard of a king wants a fight, then I'm going to give him one."

* * *

**LUKE:**

He stalked down the dungeon corridors; he was looking for someone, someone that was going to help him find Jackson. It wasn't that he didn't trust Drew, he did, she wouldn't betray him, but he didn't trust her to get the job done by herself. He was looking in the rooms of the guards; his old friend should be around somewhere. Just then he saw him. He had a tan complexion, brown hair and brown eyes.

"Ah, my friend," Luke said, "I was hoping you could do me a favor tomorrow."

"Yes," his friend said, "what?"

"Drew is leaving to find Jackson, I was wondering if you could help."

"How would I help?" he asked.

"I want you to shadow her, don't let her know that your there, you're stealthy enough for that."

He nodded, "Alright, I think I can manage."

"When you pinpoint his exact location, come back here and let me know."

His friend nodded, "Will do."

Just then a guard came running up and looked at him, as if afraid to say what he was there to say.

Luke frowned, he had no patience for cowardice, "What is it," he snapped.

"One of the prisoners escaped."

"Who was he?" Luke demanded.

"Sir, it was no he," the guard said. "_She_ tore through our guards like they were silly children, once she got ahold of a sphere, there was no stopping her."

"How many men did she take down?" Luke demanded.

The guard winced as he gave the number. "Twenty, sir."

"Twenty men!" Luke thundered. "How in the name of god did she manage, were they _drunk_?"

"No sir," the guard said quickly. "She knew how to fight, it was unreal, and she wasn't exactly what you would call tiny either."

"Very well," Luke said, "I would like to see the guard in charge of the prison cells, and did you send men after her?"

"Yes sir," the guard said, "three."

"After you get the guard that was in charge, send someone with the message to the men that were sent, they need to come back, we shall be hunting them soon."

The guard nodded and left.

His friend was wide eyed at the news; also there was something else in his eyes, it was recognition.

"You know who this girl is don't you?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," he said, "I know her."

* * *

**ANNABETH:**

They just finished their shopping and she was hoping that the older women would be happy with what they've picked up.

They were ready to leave. They made their way out of the last store, and Annabeth looked toward the forest, a thick plume of smoke was rising from a large spot deep into the forest, with a sinking feeling in her stomach, she realized exactly where the fire was. "Please tell me that I am wrong about the spot that the smoke is coming from."

"No," Reyna said, worry thick in her voice, "you aren't."

"We've gotta go," Piper muttered.

Annabeth agreed with her, but then she looked around and saw that a line of people were going into the castle, and she recognized every single one of them.

"Guys," Annabeth said. "They've found us."

Piper and Reyna both snapped their heads in the direction that she was facing, she heard one of them inhale sharply. "Let's go," Annabeth murmured, "we need to see if anyone evaded capture."

They started casually toward the wood, when Reyna said, "Wait, what if they are still patrolling the forest for us and anyone else."

"What of it?" Annabeth asked. "We are capable fighters, and who said that we were going to take a path, we can cut across, it isn't as easy of a path and a bit less luxurious, but it will get us to the camp faster."

Piper and Reyna both nodded, they were as concerned as she felt, and she knew it even though they didn't show it, neither did she.

* * *

**THALIA:**

They were walking out of the thread lady's store laughing, she had been an elderly woman, but considerably nicer than that mean fabric lady that kicked them out. They'd finished their shopping spree, and Thalia was ready to get home, and relax in her comfy tent, until training began.

She hadn't been out of the shop for two seconds and she knew that something was wrong, it was way too quiet, it was the weekend and it was Saturday, the unofficial shopping day for everybody. The markets were normally filled with the sounds of people haggling, discussing the latest news, commenting about crops, talking about the weather, she was used to the sounds of the animals being traded, and the sound of children playing in the streets. But at the moment, there wasn't a peep in the air; everything was still as if their lives depended on it.

The people that were outside had their gazes fixed on one of two things, the forest or the castle, Thalia immediately understood why and she was refraining from swearing. She saw smoke rising from deep in the forest, and she knew exactly where it was coming from. When she looked at the castle, she saw that a huge group of prisoners were being led into its dungeons. When she looked at Skylar and McKenna, she saw that they were staring in shock.

She took a deep breath, and recovered. It was important that they go and investigate what happened, and maybe some people had gotten to safety. "Come on," she said under her breath to the other two, "we need to go."

* * *

**Well I know that this is not a very long chapter, and I am sorry, I hope that the next one will be normal length again. Who was the girl that got away, and who was Luke's friend? I gave really good hints, so guess, you never know, you might be right! And I didn't use Silena as the spy, most of you objected to it, so I did what would make my readers happy. You guys are seriously awesome!**

**So, I thought that I would say: I own nothing! **


	9. Maybe There is Still Hope

**FRANK:**

He was walking with the others down the trail to the camp, he had no idea what to expect and to be frank he was kind of scared. Nico was ahead of all of them, being quite as usual, but there was something different as well, he seemed kind of depressed. Frank couldn't blame him, he was too. They were close to the campsite, and they heard the sound of hooves. There was a chance that it was Jason and Percy, but there was also a chance that it was soldiers hunting them. James motioned for them to step off the trail, everyone agreed. He kept his ear out for any conversations.

Just when he was about to call it safe, he heard talking, and it was not the others.

"She has to be here somewhere!" a voice exclaimed out of the blue.

"Yes, yes," another said, "but where?"

"If I knew that," the first voice said, "we wouldn't be here!"

"Guys," a third voice said, "even if we find her what makes you think that we could capture her, did you _see_ what happened to the other twenty?"

_Twenty men?_ Frank thought, _what girl could take out twenty men?_

Another set of hooves seemed to be getting steadily closer. The sound abruptly stopped. "Luke told me to come and get you, he said that he would start hunting them down soon," the voice was new, so he assumed that it was the horseman that just came in. Seconds later, he heard the familiar clopping sound of horses running; it got quieter and quieter, until it was completely gone.

"I assume that it's clear," Zeus said after five minutes of bone crushing silence.

"Yeah," Will said, "it should be."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Nico asked, standing up, and stretching. Everyone followed his example.

They started out on the path again. Frank was walking beside Zach, he was being quiet just like his brother, he was already worried, but if he was around these guys any longer, he might just go all depressed. He was thinking about Hazel, she'd been on patrol duty, so there was a chance that she hadn't been at the camp when whatever happened, happened.

They were almost to the site and he wasn't sure if he was ready for what he was about to see. They literally had one more sharp corner to make then they would be able to see the camp. Frank took a deep breath as they turned the corner. And when he saw what happened, he about dropped to his knees in despair.

The whole area was grey, covered in ashes, which were still falling from the sky. When he looked up, all he saw was the same grey color, it was a cloud of smoke, and it was raining ashes down on them. When he looked over at what used to be his tent, he saw the remains of his arrows, and a spare sword, all of it was dull, covered in the remains of his home.

"No," he heard someone say in a horse whisper. He looked over and saw Grover standing there. He'd finally found a safe haven, only to have it burned down, leaving him probably on the run again. Frank put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and smiled sadly, his eyes were starting to water from the sadness and the ashes.

"Can we salvage anything?" Will asked, walking over to the spot that his tent once stood, he bent down and picked up a deformed piece of metal that Frank recognized as the sun emblem that hung on the side.

"I don't think so," Nico said, walking around, looking at the remains of his own tent which was still smoldering.

"Come on," Frank muttered, "we need to get out of here before the soldiers start hunting us."

"Wait," James said, "what about the girls that went into the village, Seph, Hazel, and Leo. Do you think that they-"

"Yeah," a voice behind them said, "we're okay."

Automatically, Frank pulled an arrow from his quiver and turned around, ready to fire. As soon as he realized who said it, he dropped his weapon. Standing in front of him was Hazel, Leo, Seph, Jason, and Percy. Frank ran over and pulled Hazel into a hug. "God," he murmured, "I've never been so happy to hear your voice."

"It's good to see you too," Hazel said into his shoulder.

* * *

**LUKE:**

He was looking at the list that Drew gave him; it had the people that were missing from the prisoner's camp. It wasn't very long, but it was definitely long enough.

_Percy Jackson _

_Annabeth Chase_

_Frank Zhang_

_Hazel Levesque_

_Leo Valdez_

_Reyna Young_

_Jason Grace_

_Piper McLean_

_James Tempest_

_Persephone Current_

_Zach Bruno_

_McKenna Suave_

_Will Solace_

_Skylar Rocaine_

_Nico Di Angelo_

_Thalia Grace_

_Grover Underwood_

Luke pulled a quill out of the desk in his quarters; he had to write one more name down, the name of the girl that escaped. Then he would put them out after they all had identifying photos drawn from Drew's description, and the reward would be a handsome price, but worth it if they could get rid of those pests.

A soldier walked in, he bowed, and then walked over. "What do you need, sir?"

"Tell Drew that she can go out in the morning and that we will begin publicizing them in one week.

* * *

**SEPH:**

She looked at Frank hugging Hazel, and couldn't help but smile. It must be nice to have someone to care so much about. As she was thinking about that, someone engulfed her into a hug. She knew who it was.

"I'm so glad you're safe," James sighed, his head on her hair. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him back.

Seph leaned into him, smiling. She might have said something else, but she heard a twig snap, immediately she pulled away from James, and her hand went to her sword.

Just then a group of six girls walked into the clearing. She saw her sister, McKenna, her best friend, Skylar, Thalia, Piper, Annabeth, and Reyna.

"Oh god," Seph said. "You guys made it!"

Annabeth nodded and said to no one in particular, "What in Hades' name happened?"

"Well," James said from behind Seph. "Some pathetic excuse for a person ratted us out; it had to be from the camp. Anyways they had to have led the soldiers in, because there was no way that they would have done it without a guide, and they burned the place to the ground, taking everyone that was not out as prisoners."

She paled as he explained, as did the other girls. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "God," she said, "this could be bad."

"_Could?"_ Will demanded, "Annabeth, it seems pretty bad right now!"

"Worse," she amended.

"What do you mean by that?" Percy asked.

"I mean that if someone talked, they will talk again, they'll know that we aren't there, and they can give out our descriptions, if you thought that we were hunted before, just wait."

Seph grabbed James' hand, she could use some comfort at the moment. He seemed to sense that, because he pulled her into another hug.

"Then we need to work quickly," Percy said.

Seph pulled away from James, and looked at her friend. "What do you mean by that, Jackson?"

"If Kronos wants a fight, then we're going to give him one, but we are going to need some recruits, and I know that we can find some."

"We're going to look for recruits in a nation where the _king_ himself wants our heads?" McKenna asked.

"That about it," Percy said.

"Cool," McKenna said. "I just wanted to make sure."

"We can talk about this later," Annabeth said. "We should go…." She looked at Zeus, apparently just noticing him for the first time. "Who is this?"

"Zeus," Zeus said. "You see we have something in common, we both hate my father, and would like nothing more than to see him burn in the fiery depths of Hell."

"Percy," Annabeth said shakily, "you recruited the _prince_ of the kingdom?"

"To be fair," Zeus said, "he thinks that I'm dead, so if you think about it, I'm more wanted than any of you, especially when word gets out that I'm alive, which it already has."

"Like you said," Percy said quickly, "we can talk about this later; we should go before the soldiers start hunting us!"

"Anyone got any ideas as to where we should go?" Skylar asked.

"Well," James said, "before I became an orphan, my dad had a huge expanse of property a mile or so out of the village, we could go there."

"Wait," Seph said, looking up at James, "your family was rich?"

He nodded, and said bitterly, "They were, but look were it got them."

* * *

There was one word for the size of the property that the Tempest family owned, and that word was huge. He stared around at it, as if the very thought of it disgusted him, and Seph knew why. The rich people were supposed to be favored by the king, James probably just couldn't stand the thought that his family had been in the king's inner circle.

Seph tried to take his hand, to let him know that she didn't think any different, but he just shrugged it off, and muttered, "Come on, the house is further back."

When she saw the house, she inhaled sharply, it was huge. James looked like he was regretting every single step that he took toward his mansion.

"James," she said quietly, "we need to talk."

He nodded and looked at the others, let yourselves in, and pick any room you want. The rest walked in murmuring about their apparent luck. They walked behind the house; there was a large tree in the back that seemed to mark the beginning of his parents' property. He sat with his back to it, and she could see him as a small child running around exploring and playing with other small noble kids. She sat behind him and looked up at the house.

After about five minutes she broke the silence. "What's wrong, James?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"James," she said, "you're upset, and don't deny it, what has you acting like this?"

He sighed, "I thought that I left all of this behind, my parents and I weren't exactly close, but they always treated me well, and I hated the fact that they were favored by that monster on the throne. Then he went out and killed him because he felt threatened." James pulled his feet up to his chest, "All of this, all of it, caused me nothing but pain, when I left, I vowed that I would never return."

"James," she said gently, "I can't pretend to understand, I was dirt poor all my life, but so were most people, Kronos killed my parents because they couldn't pay the taxes. But," she grabbed his hand, "McKenna and I found a new family, and so did you, James you left this behind, you're back, but you're a different person."

She looked up at him, and saw that he was looking at her. He did something that she _never_ thought would happen, he leaned over and kissed her. Slowly she registered what was happening and it turns out that she didn't mind. She hadn't started kissing him back because of shock, and he pulled back. He was blushing furiously.

"Sorry," he said quietly, "I shouldn't have done that."

"James," she said smiling.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Shut up." With that said she leaned over and pressed her lips against his. She felt like she was in heaven, but of course something had to happen to ruin it.

Someone cleared their throat loudly, with a start, Seph pulled away from James, and saw that Skylar was standing there, looking at them with red cheeks which probably matched her own, definitely matched James', and a smirk planted firmly on her face.

"As much as I would like to say that I'm shocked, I can't, I sooooo saw this one coming! But Percy called for a meeting, I can tell them to start without you, if you're too…" she raised her eyebrows, "busy."

Seph glared at her best friend, and stood up, "Let's get to the meeting."

* * *

**PERCY:**

He was sitting on the ground by the roaring fire place that was lighting up the room and drying up the moist and gloomy castle. He could see why James left; it was too depressing in there. He was waiting for three people to come in, that way he could voice his plans.

He'd already sent Skylar out to fetch Seph and James, and she still wasn't back, none of them were. He was about to go out himself to find out what the holdup was, when Skylar ran in, she had a frantic look on her face, Percy would have been worried, but he also saw a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Where are the other two?" Will asked, looking at her inquisitively.

"Well, they are-" Seph literally barged in and covered her friend's mouth.

"Here, we're here!"

"Okay," Percy looked at them with a raised eyebrow. "Let's get started."

James walked through the doorway breathing heavily, and had a slightly amused look on his face.

"Sure," Seph said, she took a seat on the other side of the fire, James settled beside her and Skylar literally plopped down on Will's lap.

"Now that everyone is comfortable, we can get started."

Everyone nodded and he began to talk.

"Deep down this had to happen, and that it was inevitable. We all knew the risks of our… job, and we we're all more than willing to take the risks that it entitled. Now we are dealing with the consequences of them. Kronos has kidnapped our friends and our family. He believes that he can hunt us down like dogs, and wipe us all out. We have two choices, we can sit and wait for that to happen, or we can fight back, we can show Kronos that he doesn't own us."

"Jackson," Zeus said, smiling, "you have my fullest cooperation, I'm already dead, and I have nothing to lose!"

Percy smiled, and looked around the room, wondering who else would accept.

Annabeth stood up, "You know that I have your back, Percy."

A weight just fell off his chest.

"Perce," Jason said, standing up as well, "I love you like a brother, but you have terrible luck," Percy's heart dropped, he thought that Jason was going to refuse, "so I'm gonna have to be there to save your life… again, count me in!"

Percy smiled, and nodded, he felt silly and slightly guilty, thinking that Jason would _ever _abandon him.

Piper stood up next. "Jackson, you and Jason seem to get into too much trouble, I can't let you do it without me." She smiled and said, "I'm in."

Frank and Hazel both stood up. "Well," Frank said, "I'd be bored anyway, so I'm in!"

"Don't count me out!" Hazel exclaimed. "We're all in this together!"

"Percy," James said standing up, grinning in his normal overconfident way, "I came into this group for one reason and one reason only, and that was to watch Kronos burn in Hell, I'm with you all the way!"

McKenna and Seph stood up at the same time, being sisters and all, they made the decision as one, "Perce," McKenna said, "do we even need to give you a reason?" He shook his head. "Good, we're in!"

Skylar, got off Will's lap and said, "You people know nothing about sneaky behavior, so you're going to need my expertise to succeed, so you can count me in!"

Will jumped up behind her, "Thalia and I are the only ones that can actually shoot a bow, so call me you're long distance man!"

"Percy," Thalia said lazily not even bothering to get up. "If you make me give you the most obvious answer in the world, I'll shoot you with my bow."

He grinned at her and nodded.

"Hey," Grover said, getting to his feet. "I've been waiting for this for a long time, I'm in!"

Zach and Nico both stood up.

"We're in," Nico said.

"Yeah," Zach said, "that bastard's gotta go!"

Leo stood up followed by Reyna, both of them were smiling.

"Percy," Leo said, "I agree with Zach."

"And," Reyna said, "I am one of the best fighters here given my parentage, so I think that I would like to test the might of Kronos' army."

"Are you all sure," Percy asked. "This is volunteers only, you won't be thought of as a coward if you refuse."

He had sixteen sets of annoyed eyes set on him.

"Honestly, Percy?" Annabeth asked. "What do we look like?"

"Jackson, do I need to beat some sense into you?" Seph asked.

Percy grinned, "You wouldn't be able to!"

"You're probably right," she mused, "but I'm sure an annoyed Thalia would."

Percy spared a glance at his cousin, she was nodding and smiling at Seph's words.

"Thank you," Percy said sincerely.

"Alright," Thalia prompted impatiently, "with all of the mushy stuff out of the way, what's the plan?"

"When I was in Zeusberg," Percy said, "I noticed that the people were in worse condition than in the king's village."

"How is that even possible?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know," Percy admitted, "but they were, and if the king was making you that poor, wouldn't you want to get some revenge?"

"Yeah," Nico said thoughtfully, "they would willingly fight for our cause."

Percy nodded, glad that they agreed with him. "Alright, get some rest and whatever, we move out tomorrow."

Everyone stood up and walked off, either to talk, or to sleep. Percy walked over to Annabeth, who was waiting for him by the edge of the family room. He took her hand and they walked over to the bedroom areas. Percy led her up the stairs, as they walked, they talked.

"So, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, "this might just be the best plan that you have ever come up with."

Percy let go of her hand and hooked his arm around her waist. "Thanks, Wise Girl."

They were outside of Annabeth's bedroom, and Percy had one more thing to say. He turned her around that way she was looking him dead in the eyes. "Listen to me Annabeth, there is a good chance that my plan will backfire, and I know that you see where, there is a good chance that the villagers won't hear me out, and that they will try to arrest me to try to win the king's favor. If that happens, Annabeth, I want you to get everyone out, you will go into hiding, and I want you to flee the state."

"But-"

He silenced her with a small kiss on her lips.

"Annabeth, there is a good chance that it will work, you probably know the odds better than I do, I don't want you guys risking your lives or risking capture."

"Percy-"

He cut her off yet again.

"Annabeth promise me you will."

"Percy, I can't promise you, first off, that is our family up there in that prison, and I refuse to leave them, and the others would never respect you or me if we suggest that we are supposed to give up when we have just started, Percy you are the leader and we are your loyal army, we will follow you to the end, we have already pledged that, but there is one thing we will not do, and that is abandon you."

Percy sighed, "I guess I knew that was coming, but I had to try."

"I know, Percy, don't worry, I have complete confidence that your plan will work."

Just hearing her say that that made Percy feel a whole lot better. By a longshot, she was the smartest person here, and if she said something, Percy believed her.

"Thank you, Annabeth."

"Good night, Percy," Annabeth said, leaning over and pressing her lips to his softly, before she walked into her room.

* * *

**LEO:**

He walked over to the side of the fireplace and sat down. The whole thing felt like a sick kind of joke to him. The fire burning down his second home. Kronos seemed to be fond of flames.

He thought back to his life before this happened. He'd been on the run, because of Kronos. He'd been from a completely poor family, and his mother wasn't able to pay the hefty taxes one month, so the king sent his guards out to get the money from those who didn't pay on time just like any other month.

_His mother didn't have the money, the guards left, Leo thought that they were going to let her off this one month because they had always managed to get it on time before, but Kronos had raised the taxes to pay for a war that he'd recently lost._

_Later on that night, he figured out that the guards had a completely different plan._

_He awoke to smoke. He couldn't breathe, and he couldn't see. He heard his mother screaming. Immediately he hopped out of bed, and tore out of his room, only to see flames eating their way through the whole house. _

_He dashed into his mother's room, to see her laying on the ground, in an unconscious heap._

_He ran over and hauled her over his shoulder, and busted out only to see the flames had taken over the entire house. He had no choice but to go through it. He ran through it, the flames blistering his feet, licking at his legs and his arms. He wanted to cry out in pain, but he didn't have the breath._

_When he made it outside, he set his mother down, and collapsed to the ground beside her._

_When he gathered the strength, he pulled himself up and checked his mother to see if she was alive. She wasn't breathing, and when he checked for her pulse, there was none._

"_Oh, god," he said, "mom, mom!"_

_There was no answer, and just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, it did. He heard horses' hooves beating down on the ground when he looked up, he saw the silhouettes of horsemen coming toward them at fast speeds. He had to get out of there._

"_I'm so sorry, mom," he whispered. Then he jumped up, leaving his mother and all of his old life behind._

He was snapped out of his thoughts when someone came over and sat beside him. When he looked he saw Reyna looking at him, a soft and gentle smile on her face.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"Okay, I guess," Leo said.

"Something bugging you… well other than the fact that we lost our home?"

"No, I was just thinking about my life before I got into all of this."

Reyna nodded, she knew all about that, they were close. Her and Annabeth had been the ones to find him alone in the forest. He hugged him. "I'm sure your mother would be proud of who you have become, I know any parent would be."

He hugged her back, pushing his memories away and living in the moment.

Reyna pulled away from him and sat with her back to the wall, watching the fire burn away at the logs.

They sat in a companionable silence for some time before Reyna started yawning. Leo looked at her smiling. "You tired?" he asked.

She nodded and rose to her feet. "Come on, Valdez," Reyna said, "you can walk me to my room."

Leo jumped to his feet, and they walked up the staircase. When they got to Reyna's bedroom, she smiled and said, "Goodnight, Leo."

"Night, Reyna," Leo said. She turned to open her door, and Leo turned around to go.

"Leo?" Reyna called. He turned around and saw that she was right behind him.

Before he could ask what she wanted, she pressed her lips to his quickly. "Pleasant dreams," she said quietly. Then she turned around and walked into her room, leaving Leo standing in the hallway in a daze.

* * *

**Well, I was going to make it longer, but I looked at the word count and my eyes got wide, I didn't want to scare you off :) **

**Next up is recruiting! I think I shall do some of the Romans, though I won't name names! I also want you to review and tell me any specific people that you would like in here that I haven't put in, because I shall recruit them… even if they don't want to be recruited!**

**I own nothing**

**Until next time:**

**Peace,**

**Kayla.**


	10. A New Discovery and Recruiting

**Well my lovely and awesome fans, I thank you all for not killing me for not updating! I feel like an idiot for not and I just got this urge to continue, so here it is!**

**HAZEL:**

The nervousness that she felt while she was sleeping wasn't very fun. The thought that when she woke up she was going to have to go and watch Percy and Zeus give a speech on how they should fight with them to overthrow the tyranny wasn't exactly what she needed running through her head when she was trying to get a good night's rest.

It felt like an eternity had passed before Hazel saw the sun rising. Sighing in relief, she jumped out of the bed and walked out of the door not wanting to be idle any longer. When she stepped out of my room, she saw that the rest of the doors were closed, which meant that everyone was sleeping, figures. Yawning, she walked through the hallway, taking a small look around, not that James would mind. My eyes looked in awe at all of the expensive looking decorations that covered the walls. Just one of the tapestries would feed a family of four for a good year or so. She came across a huge painting of a small boy with black hair, blue eyes, he was adorned in noble clothes, but that didn't drown out the familiar mischievous look that twinkled in his eyes, or the small half smile that she saw every day when he thought of an amusing joke. She had to give him something; James was adorable when he was around five.

While she was looking and thinking about showing the others for a bit of a laugh, she noticed that it wasn't on the wall completely. Curious as to the reason, she pulled at it, and the painting lifted up, showing a dark room. Frowning, she climbed in, wondering what exactly the room contained.

* * *

**FRANK:**

To be truthful as much as he adored Hazel, he really didn't want her running into his room and jumping onto his bed in an attempt to wake him up. "Yes, dear," he groaned, sitting up and looking at her groggily.

The look on her face was a mixture of many emotions, confusion was a rather prominent one, and another was excitement, but the one that unsettled him the most was the fear that was in her eyes. "I found something and I think you guys should look at it." Quickly, he jumped out of bed, his sleepiness forgotten and he was ready to move.

When he got outside, he saw that mostly everyone was there looking around in confusion. When they saw Hazel, they looked at her expectantly. "I found something that you guys might be interested in." With that said, she pushed through the hallways, leading them through a long hallway, around halfway down, she stopped and pointed to a picture.

"Haze," James' voice sounded half-asleep somewhere from his right, "I know that I was a remarkably handsome child, but I don't think that we wanted to be woken up so early to see the obvious." Everyone snorted at the comment, even Hazel cracked a smile.

"James," Hazel said, "you see this lovely portrait is so much more than you say that it is."

"Blackmail?" Skylar called up, causing yet _another_ round of snorts.

Shaking her head, she pulled on the picture, and the bottom rose in the air, showing off a room that was lit with a dim torch. Frowning, we all entered. Other than the fact that it was hidden behind the picture of James, there wasn't anything remarkable about the room, it was bare all except for a small desk. And that was because the desk was probably the only thing that they could fit in it, the room was scarcely the size of a supply closet.

"Well," Percy spoke up, "this _is_ pretty remarkable, but I don't get why this would be so interesting to you."

"Simple," Hazel said, "it really isn't, but then I went over to the desk, there was a single piece of parchment on it."

"Okay," Annabeth said, "what did the parchment say?"

Instead of answering, she walked back outside and showed them an old piece of parchment. Percy looked at it and said, "It's just a bunch of signatures…" he trailed off and his eyes got wide.

"What is it?" Frank demanded, confused.

"What is it?" Percy repeated, "Frank, this might just answer a few questions."

* * *

**PERCY:**

To say that he was shocked would have been an understatement, to make sure that he hadn't made a mistake he looked over it again.

_I vow to stop at nothing until the tyrant, Kronos is off the throne_

_(Signatures)_

_Poseidon _

_Sally Jackson_

_Mars _

_Emily Zhang_

_Pluto _

_Hades _

_Maria Di Angelo_

_Frederick Chase_

_Athena _

_Jupiter _

_Diana Grace_

_Samantha Tempest_

_Destinee Current_

_Esperanza Valdez_

_Jenny Stoll_

_Gregory Gardner…_

The list of names went on and on and on, adding more and more names and more people to the whole entire conspiracy.

"Guys," Leo said shakily, "do you have any idea how _old_ this freaking paper is?"

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say old," Seph said, still yawning.

"Well," Leo said, "The oldest here is Percy, and he's almost nineteen, this paper looks to be signed at the _least_ ten years before he was born."

"Are you telling me that my parents were a part of a group trying to overthrow the king?" James asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Annabeth said gravely, "but what else this says, is that it was no accident that most of us are orphans."

Everyone was silent for a moment, before Zeus spoke up. "Look, I know that this looks bad, and that almost everyone on there is dead, but look at like this: your parents fought for a better life for all of you and they died fighting for what they believe in."

Nico sighed, "He's right; I still say that bastard's gotta go."

"Guys," I said, smiling, "I know how I could use this to my advantage."

* * *

**SEPH:**

Walking around the market to 'recruit' people was the most painstaking task that she'd ever done, and since she was in Percy's crew that was saying a lot. Guards were _everywhere_ and the worst part about it was that you didn't know _who_ to trust, and that paper just proved it. Just when she thought that it was hopeless, and that there was no chance for recruits, she saw a couple of boys being hauled off by some guards.

Seph walked over and tried to make eye contact with them. But they were too caught up in being lead off. They both had curly brown hair and blue eyes. For some reason she thought that they looked slightly familiar, as if she'd seen them somewhere before a long time ago. They were as good as gone and she should have just left it alone, but curiosity got the better of her. She disappeared into the crowd, making sure that no one was watching her, she silently followed them.

In no time the prisoners were walking on the trail and toward the King's Village. She figured that the sooner that she attacked the better. Being in the forest, she was looking for the right spot to attack and not be noticed too easily. There was a curve in the trail a hundred or so yards up, it would bring them closer to the forest….

She was brought out of her thinking as the two prisoner boys spoke up. The taller one said, "I do say Connor, I think that we've gone far enough!"

"Travis, my brother," Connor said, in a mock formal voice, the same as his brother, "I do believe you are right!"

"Quiet both of you!" one of the guards snapped.

Simultaneously they both seemed to slip out of their chains and sling themselves at the guards. Everything happened too quickly for her to process, but the outcome was obvious. The two guards were on the ground, the two boys, Travis and Connor, were standing up, congratulating each other, and going through whatever the guards had on them, searching for any valuables.

Getting over her initial shock, she stumbled out of the forest, and walked up to the boys… or at least she tried to. After about five feet, the boys snapped their heads up and saw her. She must have looked like a suspicious person. She was a girl in the forest alone and she wasn't exactly in her finest clothing. Raising her hands, she said, "I'm a friend."

They looked at her for a moment before the shorter one, Connor said, "Say, you look familiar."

Smiling drily, she said, "I imagine I do, but before I tell you who I am, I need to know why you were being arrested."

"That bastard of a king," Travis spat. "He decided that he wanted to arrest us because we couldn't pay the taxes that he raised. We kind of made a bit of a fuss back there, slandering his name and he apparently wasn't too happy about that either, we were being sentenced to death."

"In that case," she said, "I'm Seph and I would like to offer you guys a position in a group that happens to detest that bastard as much as you do."

"Sounds interesting," Connor said.

"Good," Seph said smiling, "then let's go back to the town and get you two acquainted with everyone."

**So yeah please don't kill me! I am back with this story! :D I own nothing other than the plot. Please be nice and leave a small review in the box below.**


	11. Recruiting and Training

**NICO:**

As he walked across the town, there was a boy with a sloppy look about him. His mouth was covered with red, and his gait was uneven. And when I heard the words that were coming out of his mouth, I knew that he was the right guy. "That damn bastard! I can't even support myself, kicked out of my own house by his damn men!"

The people around him were listening carefully, but one girl in particular walked up. "Dakota! Quit that, we'll find you another home!" she snatched the bottle away from him, "and _enough_ of that drink!" Dakota didn't look to happy about losing the container, because when he looked at her his face was puckered into a pout.

"But _Gwen!" _he exclaimed.

He walked over to the crowd briskly, went straight up to Dakota and the girl, Gwen. "Hey," he said, "You two _do_ know that guards are all around the town, right, and as much as I detest the king, I wouldn't be saying all of those profanities about him out in the open."

"Guards," Gwen said slowly, "here?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

"Dakota, they've found us again!" she exclaimed quietly, "Thank you so much, but we've gotta go!"

"Wait," he said, "what do you mean by found you, and I can hide you from the guards, and the king."

"I'm sorry," Gwen said nervously, "we can't just go with you, we don't know you well enough, and I can't ask you to risk your lives for us."

"No, no, Gwen," he said, "no problem, we need your help anyways you can help us rebel."

At the word rebel, she was immediately on guard. What kind of 'rebel' are we talking about?"

"I can't tell you that," I said regretfully, "but you can trust me and come and see for yourselves."

"Gwen," Dakota spoke up, he already seemed to be sobering up, "it's worth a shot."

She reluctantly nodded and followed me, as I went around still trying to do some more round ups.

* * *

**JAMES:**

While he was walking through the streets, he kept his eyes peeled but unfortunately came across no one that seemed like good recruits. No one seemed radical enough to run off into the woods and train to take on the largest empire in this part of the world. He heard a loud yelp and figured that something was up, spinning around he realized that it was only a small child that'd lost their toy in the muddy ground. He was about to scold himself for his jumpy nerves, when he heard a voice say, "Paranoid much, Tempest?"

He flinched slightly, until he realized who it was, rolling his eyes, he turned around and came face to face with Skylar Rocaine, "Not too bad, Sky, you see any-"

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

They immediately turned around and saw that two girls were being torn out of a small house fifty feet away by a few guards. One girl had brown hair and a furious look on her face, while the other one was a few years younger, with blonde hair a scared look on hers. "Oh boy," Skylar murmured, "this is not good."

"Come on," he said, "let's go and see what the fuss is over."

As they got closer, he heard the older one say, "She doesn't even live with me, let her _go!"_

"Might I ask what's going on?" Skylar asked seriously, making a point to shove him behind her, as if saying, _you imbecile they know what you look like!_

The guard closest to them, looked down at her, frowning in distaste. "No you may not. Get away from me you peasant filth!"

He clenched his fist, no one talked to his friends like that! He opened his mouth and sucked in a deep breath to tell the guard _exactly_ who the filth was around here when Skylar elbowed him in the ribs. He needed no translation for that one, _Stay quiet!_

But James _knew_ how to act like a noble, and he _knew _how to get this man to respond to him. So straightening up his posture, he stepped in front of Skylar. "Excuse me," he snapped effortlessly using a formal accent, "I do believe that was my friend that you were talking to!"

The guard looked at him suspiciously, not wanting to give him any leeway as to finding out who he was, he continued, "Now unless you would like me to contact my father, I would suggest that you treat my friend with respect and tell her what the hell she wants to know!"

The man looked as though he would much rather strike him, but seemed to hesitate. "And who would you be?" his tone showed that he was slightly confused as to how much respect he should be giving off.

"Who am I?" he demanded, hoping he matched the arrogance that noble children had. "_Who am I?_ Well my good sir, I would say that it is your damn job to know who I am!"

The guard seemed to get really nervous. "Um…"

"You know what!" he snapped, "You're so incompetent you need to just let the girls go!"

The man obviously didn't have the intelligence to realize that when he put those two statements together they had nothing to do with each other. Instead he called for the girls to be released, and hurried away from him, apparently not wanting to get into any more trouble.

He looked at the two girls that they were looking at him and Skylar both wearily. "Thank you," the brunette said.

"No worries," he said, starting to talk in his normal accent again.

"Oh my _god_, James!" Skylar exclaimed behind him, "Where did you learn how to talk like a big headed moron?"

"Lots of practice," he informed her.

"James," the blond said, "you're that guy from the wanted paper! James _Tempest!"_

With wide eyes the brunette clamped her hand over the blonde's mouth. "Maybe you can help us," she said. "I'm Katie Gardner and we have nowhere else to go and the king is after us because of our parents."

"Gardner?" Skylar asked, as if the name seemed familiar.

* * *

**JASON:**

Running his fingers through his hair feeling agitated, Jason stood by the forest just outside of the village waiting for the others, hoping that they had better luck that he did. The only thing that he'd managed to do was hide from guards and notice that the wanted signs for them had increased in monetary value.

Leaning against a tree, he closed his eyes. Not ten minutes later he heard someone coming up, not that it was hard, fall was there, so leaves were falling to the ground and twigs and branches were falling off trees as well, making it almost impossible to walk around the dense forest without being heard. Coming into view was none other than Piper McLean, smiling slightly, but alone.

"Hey, Jase," she said pecking him on the lips, "no luck either?"

He snorted, "Not in the least, and from the looks of it none of us are! There were too many guards to start recruitments."

That was when Percy and Annabeth were walking through. Behind them was a pompous looking boy. He had blonde hair and his pale blue eyes glowed with suspicion. He really didn't like the aura that he brought about him. Narrowing his eyes, Jason said, "Who would this be?"

Percy looked at him gravely as if saying _not what I wanted to bring back_, and said aloud, "Jason, meet Octavian."

Jason shook his hand and introduced him to Piper. After a few more moments of awkward silence, he heard the sound of multiple footsteps again. When he looked up, he saw that Seph was walking up with two guys behind her. Both of them had identical curly brown hair and blue eyes. They both smiled as though walking through the forest in secret was the most fun that they had all day… the ideal recruits.

Seph sighed and said, "Everyone meet Travis and Connor Stoll."

He nodded toward them appreciating their cheerfulness.

Not too soon after Frank and Hazel followed, bringing a man that seemed to have a broom tied to his back, he had the neatest and strictest look about him. Behind them, trailed a little girl with brown hair and wide eyes, she was shaking slightly as if terrified then again she probably was.

"Hey guys," Hazel said looking at all of us, and eyeing the newbies. As soon as her eyes fell onto Octavian she shouted, "_You!"_

"Me?" Octavian said in an innocent tone, "My dear miss, what on earth did _I_ do?" But as innocently puzzled as he sounded, his eyes seemed to convey a different message. There was a hard glint in them, as if telling her to shut up.

I was about to look into it further, but Hazel spoke up and said, "N-n-nothing! You just looked like someone else that I… I didn't like very much."

* * *

**(I _was_ going to stop it here, but figured that it was too short)**

**REYNA:**

She was holding a sword as Percy walked around, waiting for everyone to get quiet. She'd been paired up to fight against Leo, which was okay with her, but the boy used a hammer to fight! She hated fighting against the heavy thing. It wasn't a weapon it was a bludgeon! Leo smirked at her from three feet or so away, figuring out the reason that she was staring at him in distaste.

"What's wrong, _Rey?_" he asked tauntingly.

"Valdez," she said in a clipped tone, "one more word and I will cut your tongue out and feed it to the wolves out back!"

"That's the spirit, Warrior Princess!" Leo said cheerfully, making her want to facepalm.

"Oh, shut it, Repair Boy," she snapped.

Grinning at her, he said, "How can I talk to you if I can't speak?"

"That's the point," she said aggravated.

"Fine, so when I am in dire need of help, I am not supposed to call out for help?"

Reyna groaned, _why_ did that boy have to be such a smartass?

Glaring at him, she moved forward, deadest on distracting him from his annoying taunts. His eyes widened at the ferocity of her attacks, smirking from the look, she kept up the furry of blows on him.

"Oh," Leo said, ducking to avoid getting an embarrassing haircut, "so this is how you want to play it?"

Smirking, she brought her sword around to meet his hand, and slapped it painfully, "That's how it looks, doesn't it, Valdez?"

* * *

**PERCY:**

He and Annabeth walked around, observing how the training was going. Seeing Reyna kicking Leo into the dirt was a rather enjoyable experience. Also seeing Jason and Piper fighting, when they were both so reluctant to harm one another was an interesting experience also.

He was about to suggest that Annabeth and he start practicing as well when he heard someone shout, "Well maybe if you'd pay more attention I wouldn't have a damn gouge in my arm!" he knew that tone, he knew that voice, and he knew exactly who that voice was talking to. And from past experiences, it wasn't a very pretty ending. Annabeth and he both looked at each other for a moment before darting off to prevent the argument before it exploded. The two that were in question were at the edge of the field.

Seph was holding her hand, nursing her cut arm, and James was looking at her, wide eyed and mortified, his sword was on the ground, and he seemed to be too shocked for words. "James," Seph said, her voice softer than it was a moment ago, "I'm sorry… I didn't mean that, I know it was an accident."

He didn't answer, he just looked at her, mortification still on his features. "I…" he attempted, "I hurt you…"

She looked over at the two of them, "Don't worry, I've got him."

Taking that as their cue to leave, the both of them turned around and headed off.

"Come on," Annabeth said, unsheathing her dagger, "let's get some practice in."

He was about to comply and get in his practice stance, when she walked up and pecked him on the lips. "Hey," he protested, "you did that on purpose!"

She looked at me, pretending to be confused, but he saw that amusement that kept flashing through her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"You kissed me, and you _know_ that makes me distracted!"

Smirking slightly, she lifted up her dagger, "I did no such thing!"

* * *

**SEPH:**

She had to bite back a curse. She really shouldn't have snapped at James, It'd been just as much her fault as it'd been his. Seeming to break out of his shock, he ran up to me, grabbing my arm gently, as he examined the painful cut. "God, Seph, are you okay?"

"James," she sighed, exasperatedly, "I am _fine_. It didn't even cut that deep!"

"Don't give me that!" he snapped at her, "Come on, we're taking you to Will."

"But," she protested, "He's fighting!"

"Yeah," he said, grabbing her good arm and started to tug her along, "and you're hurt."

Grumbling under her breath, she allowed him to drag her off the training ground and over to the healing tent, after making her promise that she would stay put for him to go and get Will, he walked out of the mouth of the tent. Rolling her eyes, she pondered over James. They hadn't mentioned what happened when they'd gotten to the manor. They just went on like it'd never happened. It _had_ been a spur of the moment thing after all, and it wasn't wise getting close to someone at a time like this.

Mumbling curses about the stupid boy's effect on her, she rested her head on the desk of healing remedies waiting for the boys to come back.

Not too soon after three people walked in, James, Will, and Skylar, who was probably Will's fighting partner. As soon as Will got in, he grabbed my arm, and examined it. "Goodness, James," he murmured, "you need to find someone else to take your anger out on."

She saw a look of total devastation cross his features. Giving Will a pointed, _shut up_ look, she said, "It doesn't hurt."

Will started administering a cleaning salve to it, which burned worse than the sword did piercing her flesh. She had to bite back a scream. But a whimpering sound managed to escape through her traitorous lips. James' eyes widened and he said, "Solace is there anything you can do?"

"Skylar," she managed through clenched teeth, "get him out of here!" Immediately her friend grabbed James' wrist and dragged him through the opening, leaving Seph to swear quietly without having him give her pleading and guilty looks, and she didn't have the temptation of punching the look off his face.

**Well, hello! I thought that I updated yesterday… hehe, my bad! But I'm here now! So do me a favor and leave me a review and tell me what you think!**


	12. Daunting Discoveries, and Old Friends

**LEO:**

The first night that they spent together as a whole group was full of awkwardness. It wasn't too bad, but he was more comfortable when it was just our normal group. He would just have to get used to it. It turns out that he didn't have too much time to concentrate on how awkward he felt. Because Annabeth spoke up, and what she said wasn't very good news.

"I've been reading that list," she said, "And as I was going down the names, I realized something: you know how we aren't the only people on the wanted posters? You noticed that the others are just as young as us, though, well there was a reason. The majority of the people that are wanted by the king are children of the people in the secret anarchist organization."

"Wait," Leo said, "you're telling me that the king is after their _kids_!"

Annabeth nodded solemnly.

"Do you know how many of the kids in our camp had parents on that list? The king has them all in custody now!" Piper exclaimed.

"I know," Annabeth said gravely, "Percy and I were talking about that, and we were going to wait a week or so to attack the jail cell, but I don' think we have enough time."

"So," Leo asked, "when?"

"Well," Percy answered, "we were hoping that we could attack within the next day or so."

"_What?_" Thalia snapped, "Are you insane? Attack a castle in a couple of days!"

"Tomorrow to be exact," Annabeth said lightly.

"What?" Skylar said, which lead to a whole list of excuses from various people.

"We don't have a plan!"

"How are we going to attack a freaking castle?"

"Do we have enough people?"

"None of the newbies are trained well enough!"

"We don't have enough Kool Aid to get the job done!"

Everyone stopped and looked at Dakota. "What?" he said defensively, "We don't!"

"Dakota," Leo said, "we can get more Kool Aid."

"Really?" Dakota asked, looking at him like he was his hero.

"Back to the point!" Jason snapped.

"Right!" Katie said, "How exactly are we going to get this done?"

"Percy has informed me of the interior of the castle, and he knows the way well enough to make a rough sketch of it. I'll be making a plan tonight and by sunrise tomorrow, I'll hopefully be ready to give off jobs."

"Something tells me this isn't going to be a direct attack, is it?" Zeus asked.

Annabeth shook her head, "We haven't got the manpower."

"That's all," Annabeth said worriedly, "you can eat now…."

Leo was about to dig into a rather delicious looking piece of meat, when Dakota tapped his shoulder, "When am I going to get that Kool Aid?"

Leo facepalmed before saying, "Tomorrow."

Dakota griping about having to wait so long for his 'good stuff', turned around, leaving Leo to concentrate on his meal in peace.

**TRAVIS:**

The dinner was soon over, and they were dismissed. Connor decided to get some extra sleep, but Travis wanted to talk to someone. There was a girl there, and he knew her. It was Katie Gardener, his old time friend, well _friend_ might not have been the right word, but someone that wasn't trying to arrest/kill him was a friend at the moment. Admittedly he'd had a crush on her, so when she hadn't so much as acknowledged his presence, he was a bit stung.

He saw that she was talking to that blonde girl, Lacy. Just before Travis reached them, Lacy gave her a hug and departed upstairs, obviously going to bed. Katie looked up to see him coming. He saw that no recognition reached her eyes, as he smiled a (hopefully) polite smile. Nodding his way, she smiled back.

"Um, hi, I was wondering if you recognize me," he said as he walked up.

"I have to admit that you look familiar, but I can't seem to place you," Katie told him honestly.

He felt some feeling of hope swell in him, at least she recognized some of his traits.

"I don't believe that I caught your name," Katie said thoughtfully, "maybe if you told me that, I would know then."

"My name's Travis," He introduced himself, bowing mockingly and placed a kiss on her hand.

She laughed for about two seconds, before she was cut off by a sharp intake of breath. "Travis… Travis _Stoll?"_

"The one and the only," he smirked. She was positively beaming as she tackled him into a hug.

"It feels so good to see a familiar face! Wait a moment," she pulled back from him and said, "that boy that was just with you… was that _Connor?"_

"Yep," he said laughing. "And you have no idea how good it is to see you!"

"I swear I didn't recognize you!" Katie exclaimed, "You've changed in looks!"

"You haven't," he told her seriously, "just as beautiful as always."

She blushed slightly, before she said, "Same old Travis, always was a flirt."

"Yeah," he said, "I haven't changed much there… how long has it been? And why are you back here?"

"Well," Katie said, "I got a letter from dad telling me that my mother passed away, I came back for her funeral. And I didn't want to leave. One slight problem: the guards came for my father a few days ago. He was expecting the guards, they'd left him alone because they never bothered to come around that part of the town unless it was an emergency. My father is an old man, and he wasn't exactly a risk to anyone, but ever since the break out in that prison by Percy Jackson, they were roaming the place, he was expecting to get picked up, and hauled off. So before he left, he told me why him and my mother shipped me off at such a young age, and why the guards were after him."

"Care to talk about it?" Travis asked, holding out his arm, hoping against hope that she didn't remember all of the pranks that he used to pull.

She stared at his arm for a moment, before slipping hers through his and said, "Sounds great, and you can tell me what you've been up to for the past seven years."

**PERCY:**

Percy and Annabeth were walking around the outside of the palace when Percy was struck with a sudden inspiration, "Annabeth," he said suddenly.

She looked up at him smiling, "Hm?"

"Do you think that we should do what our parents did?"

Annabeth look at him with a raised eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"The list, the whole entire full blown organization, everything."

"You mean that you want to make the act that we're doing official?" she questioned.

"Yeah," he said, "I do, and why not? Our parents did, and I think that it might improve the moral of our group. To know that we aren't a mess, and that we're actually very serious about taking down the king. To let them know that what I want isn't just a game."

"You know, Jackson," Annabeth said thoughtfully, "I think that you might just be right. Do you know anyone with good handwriting?"

"Well," Percy suggested, "Travis and his brother, Connor have done a thing or two with forgery, so I imagine that they're pretty decent."

"Alright," Annabeth said, "do you want to do it tonight or tomorrow?"

Percy smiled, "Tomorrow, we still have a plan to come up with and if they sign right before the battle, it might make them more spirited."

"Well," Percy said, "we should probably head back inside and get started."

"That-" Annabeth was cut off by the sharp snap of a twig. In a flash both of their weapons were drawn, pointing toward the forest where the noise had come from.

"Goodness," a familiar voice said as a shape walked out, "it took me long enough to find you!"

Percy squinted into the distance, "Drew?"

"The one and only, sweetie!" she said as she walked over to them.

"Why are you here?" Percy asked, "I thought that you were captured with the rest of them."

"I was," Drew said. Her appearance seemed to contradict that. He had on only slightly worn clothes and she seemed as nourished as she did before the camp was burnt down. "I got away, but more of that later, I heard something from Luke while I was still locked up."

Annabeth looked at her suspiciously. Percy knew that she'd never really had much use for the fashion obsessed girl, but this look was new. "Drew," she said, "is there any way that it might have been fixed?"

"Fixed?" the girl questioned uncomprehendingly.

"Set up," Annabeth explained, "did you hear it because he _wanted_ you to hear it?"

"No," Drew said confidently, "he thought that I was asleep."

"Well then," he prompted, "what is it!"

"Apparently Kronos is prepared to release all of the other rebels if you give yourself up."

All three of them were as still as statues. Annabeth was the first to break the silence, "So help me Percy if you so much as consider giving yourself up, I will personally make sure that sense is knocked into you!"

"Annabeth," he snapped, "why wouldn't I, no one would have to risk themselves tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?" Drew inquired.

Annabeth silenced her with a glare before continuing, "Peruses Jackson, we want a freaking revolt! Of course we are going to risk our lives!"

"But-"

"We already bailed you out of that jail again! You are not going to make our work be in vain!"

"But, you can have more people for the revolt!"

"That won't matter," Annabeth snapped at him, "you are our _leader_ we need you!"

"Can't you-"

"No, I sure can't! No arguments!"

"But-"

"I _said_ no arguments!" her tone was final. That was when she rounded on Drew, "Why would you even _tell_ him that?"

"Hey," Drew snapped right back at her, "I was only relaying what I heard!"

He knew that Annabeth was going to go off onto one of her rants, so before that could happen, he said, "Find yourself a room, Drew!" and dragged her off into the castle, insisting that they should start making a plan, all the while, he was coming up with one of his own inside his head.

**CHRIS:**

Being drafted into the king's army wasn't his idea. As a matter of fact, he would have left the country but he'd been looking for someone. And when that soldier reported the damages that a girl had made with the guards, he knew that was who he'd been looking for. So later on that night, when Drew had been released his job began.

He was tracking someone, but it wasn't Drew. He figured that the best spot to check would have been the forest, which was where he found himself at that present moment. It was hard to remain calm when all of the stories and rumors that the other soldiers shared with him about the feared place came rushing back to him. That was when the trees that were _already_ bent over, seemed to be trying to grab him and drag him off, where the leaves that were rustling in the soft breeze felt like a ghost was breathing down his neck, and where ever snapping twig was an unearthly creature getting ready to attack him.

Not five minutes after he got into the dense forest, he was completely lost. The only thing that kept him going was that he was positive that she was there.

There was no telling how long he walked, but all of the weariness that he felt seeped out of him when he felt a metallic point at the back of his neck. Immediately he put his hands up, showing that he wasn't going try anything. "Clarisse," he said, "how have you been?"

Immediately he felt the point of her weapon move off his neck, and a second later, he heard the sound of a spear hit the ground. He turned around so that he could see a familiar muscular girl with stringy brown hair and a permanent frown on her face. "C-Chris?"

"Yeah," he said softly, "it's me."

"You're a guard?" she questioned. "After what that king has done for us, you're a guard?"

"Not by choice," he assured her, "I didn't want to be, I was drafted. I would have left the country, but I was looking for someone, an old friend, if you will."

That was when Clarisse committed the most un-Clarisse-like act ever. She rushed up and hugged him fiercely. Chris wrapped his arms around her and said, "I missed you too."

**Thank you all for the reviews and I own NOTHING!**


	13. Breaking Out

**JASON:**

Just because he was Percy's second in command, people thought that he was a morning person. That was exactly opposite to the truth. Jason was _not_ a morning person, and very few people were brave enough to attempt to wake him up. His girlfriend, Piper, was one of them. So when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he just shook it off, and turned back over, hoping whoever it was would just go away. That was when he felt the person climb into the bed with him. A soft pair of lips were on his cheek, before he heard Piper's voice in his ear, "Wake up, sleepy head, Percy is waiting on you to give the briefing."

That woke him up. He groaned slightly, before sitting up to look at Piper, "You win, I'll be down in a minute."

Smiling slightly, she leaned down and pecked him on the cheek again, before she pushed herself off the bed and exited the room. Sighing, he waited until he couldn't hear her retreating footsteps echo off the large stone walls before he got himself dressed properly. After deeming himself fit to look at, he trudged downstairs to the large mess hall, where everyone was waiting on him.

"Look who it is," James' mocking voice rang out from somewhere in the middle of the crowd, "Sleeping Beauty!"

The whole group started laughing lightly. Jason smiled as he located James, and made a not so friendly gesture with his hand. "I would say something about that," James said looking at him, "but I don't want Seph to hit me."

"Good choice," Jason said, taking an open seat beside Leo and Annabeth. Percy was standing at the head of the table, looking at something that was in his hand, it was probably a battle tactic of some sort.

"Okay," Percy said, "we've all agreed that waiting for night to come before the attack would be better, seeing as it would catch them off guard and they would be sleepy."

"That makes sense," Zeus murmured. "But what about the prison cells. How many people are going to be needed?"

"It'll only take one person to get the job finished there," Percy said, "I was hoping to elect Travis and Katie there…"

And after that, they went over every fine little detail for the entire escape. Thank goodness, they were hoping to avoid too many skirmishes. Percy's plan was a brilliant one, and Jason had a good feeling about it. Once they were finished with every major and minor detail about everyone's role in the breakout, there was apparently one last order of business to be covered.

"Alright," Percy said, "I had an inspiration last night to do something that would make this little band of outlaws official." He pulled out a piece of parchment that had fancy handwriting on it. "This is a contract of sorts, just putting on paper what you have already pledged. If any of you are having second guesses, this is the time to back out, you won't be thought of as any less."

"Percy, let's sign this thing!" Piper said firmly, "We all know that no one is backing out, we're here because we want to be."

Percy smiled at them weakly, "Alright then, let's get this done."

* * *

**JAMES:**

To be truthful, the sight of _Jason_ flipping him the bird was the most extraordinary event _ever_. It was hilarious. James actually cracked up at the thought. That was what was on his mind as he waited to sign his name on the document. Seph was beside him, her arm was still in a small bandage from where he cut her during training. A throb of guilt washes through him, as he thinks about it. Not only could the wound have been more serious if she hadn't have blocked most of the force, but now she would have to go into the fight at a serious disadvantage.

"James," a voice pulled him out of his hurricane of emotions that were flying around in his body. "Your turn."

Without hesitating, he leaned down and placed his signature on the paper, and turned around to leave, still slightly distracted. He _knew_ what he had to ask her. So instead of leaving the room, he leaned against the nearest wall, and waited for her to finish writing her name on the form as well. Once she was finished, she turned around to walk out, but he reached out and grabbed her good arm. She looked at him, her eyebrow was raised questioningly.

"Hey," he said, "is there any way that I could talk to you?"

"Sure," Seph said, "what about?"

Instead of answering, he dragged her outside the castle. "Come on, James," she said, "are you telling me something, or taking me somewhere?"

"A bit of both," he admitted. He brought her along to the back, and to the tree that they'd used not a week ago to talk when they'd first arrived. Ignoring all of the other wonderful events that had happened during that talk, he turned and said, "Seph, I need to ask you one favor and I don't want you to get mad at me."

"Should I be worried about this?" she questioned.

"I don't know," he admitted.

"Well then spit it out," she said, "that way we can find out!"

"Fine," taking in a deep breath, he said, "Seph, don't go."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she said, "Don't go _where_ exactly?"

"To the town for the prison break," he said in a pleading voice.

She was quiet for a moment, but the look on her face, made him want to cringe. But he didn't regret it. Then in a deathly quiet voice, she said, "What exactly should I _not_ go? Am I that much of an incompetent fighter?"

"What?" he asked, "Do you_ know_ how many times you've saved my life?"

"Well then," she said, her voice getting a bit louder, "care to explain your thoughts?"

"You're hurt, and I don't want you to get any worse," he said, hoping that his reasonable tone would placate her, but of course it didn't.

"So you mean that you feel guilty for hurting me and if I die, you don't want my death on your conscious."

"What?" he asked, wondering how she could have even come close to that conclusion.

She stalked up close to him, fury blazing in her eyes, and said, "Because you don't need to feel responsible for me." Then she stalked off, leaving him there in shock.

It took him about thirty seconds to regain his wits. By that time, Seph was a quarter of the way back to the castle, and without considering what he was about to say, it just came out, "IS IT THAT _DAMN_ HARD FOR YOU TO BELIEVE THAT I MIGHT JUST CARE ABOUT YOU?"

She froze in mid stride. And he stalked up to her, feeling thoroughly offended, and seriously angry. He walked around her until they were face to face. "Do you think for one minute that the only thing that I care about is my _conscience_? I thought that you knew me better than that!"

"Then why don't you want me to go?" she demanded, "what do you think it's going to do to me, being the only one here, huh, how do you think I'll hold up here, knowing that the rest of you are somewhere else risking your lives!"

"But while you're out there, the only thing that I would be thinking about is you! And wondering if you're okay! Do you think that's any good for me?"

"James," Seph said stepping a little closer to him, so that their noses were almost touching, "I'm going, and there is no need to worry about me." She abruptly pulled away from him, as if the closeness in proximity was starting to make her uncomfortable. She walked away from him, calling over her shoulder, "We're partners anyway, you won't have to wonder what happens, I'll be right there."

The thought was both comforting and unsettling. _What_ was he going to do with that girl?

* * *

**KATIE:**

So this was the part that scared her the most. The rest of the anarchists were in their positions, and Katie and Travis were about to set off to work. They walked around the castle inconspicuously. They simply looked like a young couple taking a small walk. Katie soon realized that as much as Travis had grown up, he still had his troublemaking tendencies. They were half way around the back of the castle, when Travis pulled her to a stop. Katie looked at him questioningly.

"In here," he pointed his finger at a door that was on the side of the castle. It was a small wooden door that looked to be a supply closet.

"What do you mean?"

"My dear Katie," Travis said, a smile clearly on his voice, "Do you honestly thing that this is the first time that I've done this kind of thing?"

"No," she answered promptly, "I don't, but this wasn't a part of the plan."

"I know," Travis, "that' s because they don't know about one of the passages that I happen to know about."

"Fine," she snapped, "we're already behind schedule, so let's go!"

Travis walked over, taking something out of his pocket, and he bent over the doorknob. Thirty seconds later, the door was opened. "Shall we?" he asked in a fancy accent.

Rolling her eyes, Katie nodded, and walked into the door. She was right, it _was_ a supply closet. "Travis, _what_ are we doing here?"

"Trust me, Katie," he said calmly, "I know what I'm doing."

"That's news to me," she said dryly.

He knelt down, though it was really hard to see him, considering that it was more than likely eleven o'clock or so outside. He'd been out of sight for a minute or so, and she was getting fed up with it. "Travis… mhmmm!" Someone put their rough, calloused hand over her mouth.

She attempted to grab the person's wrist, when the whispered in her ear, "Shhhh," it was Travis himself, "guard's coming."

Inwardly sighing in relief, she calmed down, and waited for him to let her go. She heard footsteps soon after, and once they were fading away, he tentatively let his hand fall from her mouth. Katie whirled around, and was dead set on ripping his head off for yelling at her, when she realized that he was standing in front of a small passage way.

"What the…."

"Hephaestus himself built this castle," Travis murmured, "there are loads of secret passageways, I found this one when I was around seven and the guards were chasing after me for stealing… well that isn't important."

"Alright," Katie said gesturing at the passageway, "Lead on."

"Gladly, my lady," Travis said, bowing in a mocking manner, before he started walking, leading her into a pitch black hall.

* * *

**PERCY:**

"You positive that this is going to work?" he asked Annabeth quietly.

"No," she sighed, "but I never do, you're the optimistic person… so be optimistic."

He looked up at the castle. "Um… at the moment that's _way_ easier said than done."

"Alright," Percy said, "how much longer until Travis and Katie were scheduled to be?"

Annabeth looked up at the sky, before she said, "I do believe that it's time… now."

"Alright," Percy said, and he turned toward the others. "Guys, you know the deal, and you know your groups. Let's get this over with."

With that award winning speech, he walked over to his own team. "Alright, let's go!"

The four of them, him, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper started toward their destination. Percy pointed at the rest of them to wait down there, and be prepared to fight. He climbed the ladder, praying that they weren't looking straight down. When he got up to the middle of the ladder, he felt the vibration of footsteps coming. Someone was doing an inspection of the grounds, but Percy could hardly just _stay_ there! So he kept going.

Finally he could see the top, the guard was looking at the other side, thank God! He jumped over and landed on the platform without so much as a sound. When he got about two inches toward the guard, the man turned around, probably sensing Percy's presence. The man opened his mouth, probably to call out for help, but he never got that far. Percy brought his leg out and tripped him, causing him to fall to the floor. When the man tried to get back up, he hit him over the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. He crumpled to the ground and he wasn't going to be getting up any time soon.

He searched the tower for the mechanism that Hephaestus, the very man that came up with the contraption, had installed. As soon as he found the small button beside the tiny stool on the right side of the post on the wall, he pressed it. Not two seconds later he felt the ground shaking, and the gate started to rise. And that was when an alarm bell went off. They would be surrounded by soldiers soon, and he concluded that this was going to be a long night.

* * *

**A long night indeed... hehe I just sounded fancy! :D Next chapter should be interesting! Hope you enjoyed this story enough to leave me a review! If you look at the rest of my stories, you can see that the more reviews I get the better quality the chapters there are because I have awesome inspiration! Sadly I only own the plot and Seph and James. SOOOO... That's it review on your way out!**


	14. Uneasiness

**TRAVIS:**

Things never went according to plan. But this time had to take the cake. Percy gave him one task, just one: infiltrate the castle and unlock the doors so the prisoners could get out _without_ getting caught.

Everything started off just like the last time he'd used the secret passage, (well other than the fact that Katie was with him and not Connor,), they walked through and checked for guards, but there was none to be seen. That was strange, and it made him feel extremely uneasy. Any other time he would have turned back, but he had a job to do, and from what Percy was saying this was definitely worth his life. So he went forward, his senses wide open, and he was tense, trying to pick up the slightest thing out of place. He led Katie down the halls, remembering exactly what Percy told him earlier that day. It was one of the few times that he was happy to have been poor enough to learn the skills of a thief.

This was where everything started going sour. They were making halfway decent time, like he assured Katie, and they were very close to the cells. From the details that Percy said to him. The small, narrow hallway, which they were currently walking in at the moment, was right in front of the prison room. They got to the end of the hallway, and opened the door.

The first thing that he saw was about a dozen doors, but there were no guards. He knew that something was wrong, and all of his instincts were telling him to turn around and get out of there, but he swallowed them and moved forward again. He looked behind him and made sure that the only person that was following him was Katie before he looked at the doors again. "Hello?" he called.

Faces appeared behind the small barred windows on the doors. One of the faces was an older woman with a strong resemblance to Percy. "Yes?" she questioned, coldness and suspicion were thick in her tone.

"I'm Travis," he said, "and Percy Jackson has sent me here to help."

"Percy?" the woman said, "is he okay?"

"The last time I checked, he was," he said, not bothering to point out that they were probably going to end up attacking the castle to get them all out, some of them wouldn't survive the night that that Percy was probably going to be in danger very soon.

"Alright," Katie said, "Travis, I never learned how to pick locks, you're on your own there, hurry up, I'll watch the door."

Travis promptly walked up to the door with the older woman in the front and went to work on the lock. Two minutes later the door was open. On the inside there were ten or so beaten down people. Men and women, apparently the king wasn't discriminate. Travis didn't have time to ponder the fact, immediately he went and started working on the next door.

Soon all of the doors were open and the people were out, they were doing pretty good. "Alright," Travis said, "we're going to take you down the way that we came in. There is a small hole in the gate where we got in, but there is no way that we're going to be able to get all of you out. So, Percy and some others are preparing to open the castle gates, so we need to go _now_. When you get outside, you're going to need to follow us, Seph and James were supposed to get the weapons vault unlocked, you need to go in, retrieve a weapon that you can fight with, and follow us to the courtyard where the gates are going to start opening."

They all looked at him gravely, and started nodding.

"Well then," he said, "come-"

He was cut off by a loud bell. He spared a look at Katie who seemed deeply disturbed. They all knew what that meant.

"Let's go," Travis said quickly. With that he raced down the hall, knowing that they would follow him.

* * *

**SEPH:**

To be truthful, she and James weren't on speaking terms… at all. Which made them being partners slightly awkward. They walked briskly together toward the front of the castle, when they heard the familiar sound of a bell going off.

That was when things started going downhill. Guards were coming out everywhere, their swords drawn. "Damn," James swore quietly, "Seph, go, just leave."

"Tempest," she snapped, "they would kill you on sight! They know what you look like."

He looked at her, pain in his eyes. "What do you propose?"

"Walk off, _now!_ They aren't going to question a harmless woman."

James looked at her incredulously. "You're insane!" he snapped, "No!"

They were getting closer. Seph was getting desperate. "James," her voice was quavering, "if you stay then you're as good as dead, _please_ go!"

He reached over and stroked her cheek, "Seph…."

"No!" she insisted, "Go, _now!"_

He bit his lip in hesitation, before Seph turned him around forcefully, and shoved him down a hill. Praying the soldiers hadn't been close enough to her to see him, she turned around and watched them come down.

The head man came up, and looked at her coldly, "Where is the boy that was just with you?"

Seph was silent for a moment _what_ was she supposed to say? "Um, his… mother was looking for him."

The head man still had that cold look on his face. Then he snapped, "Did you not hear that bell? You are supposed to be home!"

She nodded, thinking about how much James would be enjoying seeing her being reprimanded. "Yes, sir," she said quickly, "I was headed there when you showed up."

He was quiet for a moment, his harsh gaze not leaving her. She felt like she was going to crumble under his gaze. He snapped his fingers, at the two soldiers beside him. "Take her to her home and inform her parents that she isn't to come on dates in the front of military barracks, and that she is to have two days of strict house arrest."

They bowed to their leader, walked over to her, and simultaneously gripped her upper arms and led her away from the hills and toward the village. This wasn't very good. She couldn't very well allow them to take her down to the village, but she couldn't resist in front of the guards, so she allowed herself to be led down the hill and away, praying that James would have had the sense to leave her, and unlock the supply shed where the weapons were being stored. But of course, it happened the exact opposite of what she wanted.

When the other soldiers were out of view, she was about to start to fight back, when the soldier on her left side, knocked into her, sending her toppling onto the other guard. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw James, rushing over to her. She managed to get into a sitting position as the last conscious guard came her way. She jumped onto her feet, slightly disoriented, but that didn't stop her from pulling her fist back and upper cutting him in the jaw as hard as she could.

The man took a couple of steps back. Seph then pulled out her hidden sword and smacked him over the head with the flat of the blade, effectively knocking him out. It was just the two of them there now, breathing hard and in a slightly awkward silence. "Come on," Seph managed, "we need to get the weapons vault unlocked."

When they got to the weapon's vault, there was one guard, and when they got close enough they realized that the boy couldn't have been more than twelve. "I am _not_ knocking out a twelve year old!" James said.

Seph looked at him, "Um… we don't have a choice!"

"But-"

"Who goes there?" the boy asked.

James looked up in surprise. "Um..."

The boy looked at them for a moment, before he took out his weapon. "Stop right there!"

Seph stepped forward, a smile on her face, "Come now, are you really going to pull out a sword in front of a lady?"

The boy hesitated for a moment, and Seph took that as an initiative to knock the blade out of his hand, and knock him down to the ground. "Don't move!" she snapped.

The boy nodded. And just to be sure she, reluctantly knocked him over the head. He fell to the ground. Ignoring the stunned look on James' face, she said, "This is _your_ area of expertise." She gestured toward the lock.

"Right," he said, "stand aside, my _lady_."

Rolling her eyes, she moved, and let James look at the lock. A minute later, the lock was on the ground. "Come on," he said, "let's get out of here."

"What about the kid?" she demanded.

"Hide him," he sighed.

He walked over and hefted him over his shoulder, being the bag of bones that he was, it probably wasn't too hard, walked over to a random bush, and set him down gently. "Poor kid," he said. "But we can't do anything for him right now, we need to get to the courtyard."

* * *

**SKYLAR:**

She was on the ground again, thank god. They opened the gates, the bell had went off, and now they had the job of making sure no one got to the towers to close the gates again. Doesn't sound too hard right? Wrong, there was twelve of them. Three towers, four to each tower, against the king's freaking guard!

She had her dagger drawn and she was looking in all directions hoping that the danger would never come. She caught movement close to the castle, and her throat constricted in anticipation. But when she realized who it was, she let out a breath of relief. It was just Seph and James. They ran over to join the group. When they got close enough, Skylar had to squint to make out their facial expressions, they consisted of worry and slight fear.

"All cleared," Seph assured the group as she stood beside me, probably trying to steal her nerves. "Oh," Seph said as an afterthought, "happy birthday, Skylar."

She rolled her eyes, "Really? At a time like this?"

"Enjoy it," Seph recommended, "you don't know if you'll have another." As if to prove a point, the ground vibrated with the soldiers footsteps.

"Agreed," Skylar muttered.

"Stand strong," Percy said, "Travis and Katie should be out in no time."

"They better," I heard Leo mutter from somewhere to my left.

That was when the soldiers came into view. As I looked, I had to do a retake. "Percy," I said, "I do believe that they take us seriously."

"You think so?" he asked sarcastically, she didn't even have to look at him to know he rolled his eyes, "so there's what? One hundred, one hundred fifty men against the fourteen of us."

"Well," I heard Thalia mutter from somewhere to my right, "it's been nice knowing all of you."

"Feelings mutual," she said, eyeing the fast approaching soldiers.

She felt Will grab her hand. She smiled sadly and squeezed it back before they let go and braced themselves for the attack.

The attack was nothing like Skylar had ever experienced before in her life, and nothing that she would care to experience again. She'd been in raids, fights, and skirmishes, but this was a battle. The soldiers were bloodthirsty. Every time she would defeat one, another three would take their place.

One soldier decided that he was going to try to take off her head and another was aiming at her torso at the same time. She had no idea how she managed it, but she was able to duck under the blade, narrowly missing a new haircut, and block the blade that was centimeters from her stomach. Everything seemed to be in slow motion for her. It sped up again as soon as she kicked the man who was trying to chop her in half in the stomach sending him toppling backward. The man who attempted to decapitate her was on the ground, arrows sticking out of his back. Will was always watching out for her.

All in all the fight had not been a fun time for her, and just when she was sure that she was going to be overwhelmed, she heard the most beautiful sound in the world, Travis Stoll yelling, "ATTACK!"

Everyone stopped fighting and turned around to see around eighty to a hundred prisoners, armed and angry.

"What are you waiting for, " a voice from the king's army rang out, "get them!"

That brought her out of her shock enough to kick the person who'd she'd just been fighting in the feet, causing them to tumble onto the ground where he would be trampled by his own army.

* * *

**PERCY:**

He hate battles. Just because he was good at fighting, didn't mean he enjoyed it. Annabeth was by his side, Jason and Piper on his other, and they all tried to push the crowd of oncoming guards back.

Of course their job was a lot easier when eighty to a hundred more of his men were fighting the guards from the rear. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw that Will, Thalia, and Michel Yew (a prisoner) had climbed the towers and were currently releasing a torrent of arrows on the opposing army. He realized that if it wouldn't have been for the archers, the gates would have already have been closed they would have been stuck in there, slaughtered by the guards of the king. He made a mental note to emphasize the importance of archery if he ever got out of there.

"You understand," Annabeth said breathlessly next to Percy as she hacked at two other soldiers at once, "that this is just one battalion, Kronos has one hell of a lot more. He's going to let this section tire us out, then he's going to send more soldiers on to finish us off."

He nodded, she made sense, as usual. "What do you suggest? It isn't like we can just call a retreat, half of them are still blocked," just then a guard yelling madly came forward, swinging his sword wildly, almost decapitating some of the men from his army. Percy ducked out of the way as Annabeth knocked the blade out of his hand with a well aimed jab at his arm. Rushing forward, Percy rammed into his torso with his shoulder, effectively forcing the breath out of him, and causing him to stumble backward into mass of fighting soldiers.

"We retreat," she said simply, "we weren't trying to overthrow the king tonight, we aren't ready and the majority of the ones that are fighting resemble the walking dead."  
"Agreed," he said. Jumping out of the reach of another blade. He cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed, "RETREAT!"

Everything was quiet for a moment. Percy had managed to make his voice carry over all of the yelling and screaming. Once the command was processed, there was a mad dash made by his men toward the exit. They got out of the courtyard and ran toward the village with not the slightest problem. Percy was very suspicious.

When they managed to get far enough outside of the gates, Percy stopped them and said, "Alright, split up into groups of two, hide and make your way back to our old campsite."

Grabbing Annabeth's hand, he ran off into the night, away from the castle, still feeling uneasy.

* * *

**JASON:**

As he was walking all the way around the village with Piper, he was still puzzled. _Why _ hadn't they been pursued? He'd asked Piper that question, and the only thing that he could think of was, "Maybe he didn't want to exhaust their forces."

"I don't know," Jason admitted, "something is definitely up."

"That's obvious," Piper said, "but until we know what exactly is, we can't do much about it."

He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to come up with a better explanation, but none came. "Let's go," Piper urged, "we can think this over when we see the others, knowing Percy and Annabeth, they probably have the answers."

"Yeah," Jason admitted, "you're right about that, Annabeth is a genius."

"See," Piper said, "nothing to worry about."

They both knew that was a lie, there was everything to worry about, but they walked on pretending to believe what she just said incase the other did.

**Yes, it is indeed Skylar's birthday! So I did this chapter especially for her! Hope you enjoyed it Skylar!**

**Now I hope all of you enjoyed the attempted action… IDK if it was a fail or not. It isn't all that easy to write, so I hope I did it justice. I OWN NOTHING OTHER THAN THE HOPEFULLY HALFWAY DECENT PLOT AND SEPH AND JAMES!**_  
_

**Have a happy birthday Skylar, and see ya next time!**


	15. Suspicions

**Leo**_:_

Everyone had made it back to the old burned down campsite by the next morning… everyone that'd managed to survive that is, and they made their way to James' manor. As soon as they hit his property, Will and his siblings started to work on the wounded soldiers, and some of the younger ones that hadn't been exposed to battle yet that'd went into shock. Rumors were already flying around like wildfire about the spy along with some suspects. There were a few names that Leo secretly agreed with and wouldn't have put the foul action past them.

Weeks started to fly by. The people were getting agitated and paranoid. Kronos hadn't sent anyone out to look for them, no one had pursued them, and it'd been altogether too easy. One night deep in December, a few weeks after the breakout, Percy called a strategy meeting, all of his most seasoned fighters and top strategists were there.

Jason was the first to talk, asking the question that was most likely on everyone's mind. "Why," he asked, "why would he just let us leave? What's he playing at, just letting us through those gates away completely unopposed?"

"Fair question," Zach said quietly, "he has all of that military power, why would he let the only people that pose him any real threat just go?"

"Yeah," Nico agreed, "when Zach and I were on our own none of the guards ever relented in attempting to track us down." He absently looked down at a particularly large scar on his arm.

"Well," Annabeth said bracingly, "that's why this meeting is called… we might have an answer."

Leo looked at her, interest deep in his eyes, "So you're saying that there is a logical explanation for all this?"

Nodding, Percy said, "Not only logical but insanely brilliant."

Two words came out of Annabeth's mouth that completely confused me, "Mental warfare."

The table went silent; Nico was the first one to break it. "That makes so much sense!"

"Hey," Leo snapped, "mind an explanation?"

"Leo," Zach said, "just look at what's happened. Everyone is sitting around and waiting for something bad to come about. They're scared out of their minds that they're going to be captured and put back into one of those cells again, that they might be hung and that their kids will be killed along with them. Not only that but some of the people will probably end up thinking that Kronos let them go out of the goodness of his heart and that he will spare them if they come out of hiding. They are going to start losing their faith in Percy and the rest of us and start putting their faith in the wrong hands and everything is going to get shot straight down to hell."

"He's right," Zeus sighed, "this sounds like something that my father would do."

"Not to mention the spy," James muttered, "what do you propose to do about all of this?"

"That's the problem," Annabeth sighed, "there isn't much we can do, though Percy did pose one plan."

"What is it?" McKenna asked.

"Two actually," Percy murmured, "The first is that we need to start guard duty during the night hours, that way the people can sleep easier, with more sleep hopefully they might be more reasonable. And I thought that we could have a 'day off' so to speak. We could arrange a few activities; the children could have a blast which would calm the adults down."

"I think that they're both great ideas," McKenna said.

"Yeah," Leo agreed, "Nyssa and a few others would probably love to help me build for the festivities."

"And I happen to be an excellent cook," Katie offered, "I know a few others that are talented as well, so I could be in charge of the food if you want."

Percy smiled at all of us, "You guys are the best, thanks for cooperating. Pass the word around the festival should be up soon." That effectively ended the meeting; everyone got up and dispersed in groups.

Leo got up and walked after Percy who was making his way out of the room with Annabeth and Grover. "Yeah Leo?" he asked.

"They aren't children," he said, "and they aren't stupid, what is all of this going to help?"

Percy smiled, "How perceptive of you, Leo, and you're right. Do you trust me?"

"Completely," Leo said.

"Good," Percy replied. "Then trust me on this: every thing I do is done for a reason."

"Alright," Leo sighed, nodding his head, "I'll gather some people and we'll start on the games."

Percy clapped him on the back, "Good man!"

**LUKE**:

He was in his quarters, getting ready to get some sleep. It'd been a rough training day and he was dead beat. Kronos hadn't voiced his plans, even to Luke himself, but it didn't matter; only a fool wouldn't be able to see that something was up, so Luke kept his men and himself in condition for a fight at all times.

A loud knock on his door brought him out of his ponderings. "Yes?"

"Someone is here to see you, sir," a guard said, his voice muffled by the door.

Luke sighed impatiently, promising himself that if it wasn't important that the person would be hung first thing in the morning. "Well, send them in!"

The door opened and the beautiful and cold features of a familiar girl came into view. "Luke," Drew said coldly.

"To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?" he asked dryly.

"Updates," she informed him, "a few that you might be interested in."

"Well," he prompted, "get on with it."

Drew sighed and started rattling off information and very interesting dates. Luke got more and more optimistic with each word that came out of her mouth.

"Good work," he said after she was finished.

"Was that a compliment," she asked sarcastically.

"Don't make me regret giving you one," he advised her, "get back to your post."

She mock bowed and said, "Yes your royal highness."

**NICO:**

Standing guard wasn't exactly the most eventful post. Percy was right though, more people were in bed instead of staying awake and worrying. He and Zach were both guarding, one person per side of camp. Hazel and Leo were both out as well patrolling deeper in the forest, making sure that there weren't any sneak attacks. The only thing that the guarding accomplished was the excess amount of time that Nico had to think.

He, of course, thought of what life was like before all of this mess happened. He and his brother had a loving family. His mother was beautiful, his father was rather cold and intimidating, but he cared for them deeply. His older sister was amazing, so nice, a bit of a tease but that was okay with him. He'd had it all family, love, even a younger brother that looked up to him. They'd been deep in the rebellion so he'd made sure that they'd been familiar on how to survive no matter what.

Nico grimaced as he thought about the tragedy that happened only a few years ago, though it seemed forever ago and he remembered everything like yesterday...

_He was asleep in the room that he shared with Zach at his old home. Everything was peaceful. By mere nature and instinct Nico was sleeping very lightly that night. There was a loud bang and crash outside their room, Nico immediately jumped to his feet, Zach right behind him. Nico motioned for him to stay back, and walked slowly to the door, there was another crash and his father cursing. "Bianca!" his father yelled, "get your brothers and go!"_

_Nico didn't hesitate, he busted through the door and he saw forty or so men in soldier uniforms, his father was standing over a still figure that looked frighteningly like his mother. His sister was on the other side of the small family room, shooting arrows at the oncoming enemy. Nico pulled out his small sword. He felt his brother right behind him. One of the soldiers came right for him, but Nico made short work of him, sending him to the ground before his eyes had time to roll into the back of his head._

_Nico was about to jump into attack when his dad yelled, "No, out, Nico go!"_

_As much as Nico hated it, he wasn't about to disobey his father, Hades knew what he was doing. Spinning around, he shoved his brother back into the room and shut the door, "out the window, now."_

_Silently, they started to walk toward the window, when their door slammed open. Bianca was there, flanked by about five or so men. "Go!" she shouted, running straight after them._

_They didn't need to be told twice. Running to the other side of the room, they jumped out the window and ran straight into the trees, not bothering to look back at the guards that were obviously on their trail._

_"We're not going to be able to get away," Bianca gasped._

_"Yes we will," Nico urged, "we just need to keep moving!"_

_"Listen," Bianca said, "I'll hold them off, you run on ahead."_

_"You're crazy!" Zach snapped, "if we face them, we do it together!"_

_"I'm with him," Nico said._

_"Look," Bianca hissed, "this is no time for your heroics!"_

_"Yours either," Zach countered._

_"I'm not going to get caught, I'll run before that happens, I'm just going to slow them down, they won't even see me."_

_They were silent for a moment before Bianca said, "Go, _now_ dad told me to look after you guys, don't make me go back on my promise!"_

_Nico sighed, "Be careful."_

_"Take care of Zach."_

_"Hey, we're only a year apart!" Zach protested._

_Bianca smiled weakly, "That's my boys, now go."_

_Nico looked at his brother who was looking back up at him, before they both ran off, leaving their sister behind..._

_The next morning, they were in the king's village, walking through the market, when a group of fifteen or so soldiers came out of the forest in the same spot that they did. Two people seemed to be prisoners. One was obviously their father, but Nico didn't know if the other person was their mother or their sister. They walked up with the crowd, with a sinking feeling, they saw that it was their sister, which meant that his mother was indeed dead._

_"Oh no," he breathed. _

_Zach looked up at him, "We're going to get them back, right?"_

_Nico winced, his brother was only nine years old, he may have only have been ten but he couldn't act weak. "Of course."_

_"You know them?" A voice from behind them said._

_They both spun around and saw that a boy that was about three years older than him with black hair and green eyes. He started talking again, "From the look of resemblance, I would say, your father and your sister. I can help you get them back." He held out his hand to Nico, "I'm Percy Jackson."_

END OF FLASHBACK

Nico was astounded with how much three years had changed, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of any of his family other than Zach. Sighing, he wondered what his brother was doing now.

**SEPH**:

She smiled at her sister, McKenna always had a habit of stuttering around Zach or any subject relating to the boy. She was quiet at the moment, they were up by one of the fires outside of the manor, keeping it up for the guards sake. It was her, McKenna, Skylar, James, Will, Frank, Reyna, and Drew.

She personally had no idea why Drew was here, they caught her walking around the yards and from the looks of it toward the manor, but when she saw them, she immediately walked over, a bright look on her face. They were idly chatting about anything and everything. Somehow Drew managed to push the subject to obvious 'soon to be couples.' Why she would want to was a mystery to her. But McKenna and Zach were her first two peopled up for discussion. McKenna hadn't said a word, but she was definitely blushing.

"Come on," Drew said earnestly to Skylar who was listening with semi interest, only because her and Seph had already agreed on the subject... privately, of course. "Is anyone that blind? They're more obvious then Percy and Annabeth!"

"Come on, Drew," Seph sighed. "You're embarrassing her!"

Drew looked at her as if she was something a naughty dog threw up on her favorite dress. "Why don't you just go off somewhere, Current? I see James is with you, is that why you aren't bawling your eyes out?"

Anger burned at her insides. How _dare_ she bring up James almost dying in a casual insult! Seph abruptly got to her feet. "Oh yeah, bitch, you come and make me leave and I'll let you know what bawling your pretty little eyes out feels like!"

"Hey," Reyna cautioned, standing on her feet, "let's cool it!"

Drew looked at her coldly. "What has you feeling so confident, Current? You've lost everything else, why not a fight?"

"That was low," Frank commented, doing the same as Reyna.

Seph stiffened up, it felt as though she'd been slapped in the face. She took a step forward dead set on making some changes to Drew's pretty little face, when a hand was on her shoulder.

She turned around and saw that James was standing there, looking down at her. "Drew, not tonight."

"Come ON Jamie," Drew whined, "why are you sticking up for the ugly little witch?"

James gave a quick wink to Seph before looking up and frowning at Drew. "Three things. First off, Seph is the only person that calls me Jamie. Second off, the last time I checked, which was around three seconds ago, she isn't ugly. Lastly, she, unlike you, isn't a heartless little bitch."

Seph felt a swell of pride.

"Why are you even here?" McKenna asked. "Shouldn't you be off gossiping with your _friends_?"

"Because, you see," Skylar sighed, jumping nimbly to her feet, "just because James is holding Seph back, doesn't mean that I am. So why don't you screw off before I have the immense pleasure of making you!"

Smiling coldly, Drew got up, "It was getting boring over here anyways." She left without another word.

"You shouldn't let her get to you guys like that," Will said, he'd been silent the whole time.

"Normally I'd agree with you," James sighed, he hated Drew, "but she was way out of line tonight."

"I guess so," Will relented.

Seph didn't realize that she was stiff as a board until James asked her a question, "You gonna sit down?"

That was the first sentence that he'd said to her in almost a month, Seph could have burst with happiness. "Yeah," she said, taking his hand from where he had it still resting on her shoulder and twining her fingers through it, I'm not going anywhere."

**Hello my loyal readers! Please forgive me for the long update! My laptop has a bad charger! This lovely piece of work has come from long hours on my phone, so if I missed anything, I'm so sorry! I own nothing, and if you review, I'll love you forever! **

**And as pointless as this chapter may seem, it is really important. I hope you appreciate the trip into Nico and Zach's past.**


	16. Preparations and Drew's Plans

DREW:

She was a girl on a mission. She stalked up the stairs to the castle, smiling because of the excellent opportunities that the campfire opened up.

She needed to see her friends. There was only one other spy in the whole camp and the person was no 'friend' of Drew's. As soon as she walked through the doors, there they were smiling at her through blank eyes, that showed off their lack of brains.

"Girls!" Drew said in a falsely cheerful sing-song voice, "I have a job for you!"

Isabel, Anne, and Pracilla all stood up excitedly. "What can we do?" Anne demanded cheerfully.

KRONOS:

He wwas having a fantastic day. He'd woken up in a great mood to his favorite breakfast food of ambrosia and nectar. Afterward he went into the throne room and ordered another tax to be made the next time the collectors went out... he wanted another party. And to top it all off, Luke was coming by, promising for good news.

'Speak of the Devil,' Kronos thought as Luke walked into the throne room.

"I've been in anticipation of your good news all day," Kronos boomed.

"I'm glad," Luke said, bowing, "you will be most pleased with the news."

"Well," Kronos said, "on with it!"

The next fifteen minutes were talk of pure strategy. "Are you sure your spy can pull this off?"

"I have full confidence in her, sir."

"Very well," Kronos sighed. "More strategy talk later. I was about to go and grab some lunch. Would you care to join me?"

Luke smiled, making his scar twist eerily. "I'd be honored, sire."

FRANK:

Just because he was the largest boy in camp, he was in charge of all the heavy lifting. The huge bond fire needed huge pieces of wood.

So there he was, putting large stumps and long limbs onto a wagon. It would have been okay if he would have been ALONE. But he wasn't. There was some girl with him. She was smiling and talking quietly to him. He would have been fine with it at any other time on any other day, but at that moment having someone sit around while you're doing all of the work is really annoying. The worst part about it: Frank didn't even know the girl's name to politely tell her to go away.

"How did you manage to lift that?" she demanded. "You must be really strong!"

Frank looked at her, inwardly pushing her away... sadly it didn't work, she was still there. "Thanks," he grunted, picking up a particularly heavy log. He walked to the wagon and realized that it was blessedly full and he would have an excuse to get away from her!

He set the log down and grabbed the handle. "Look," Frank said, "as much fun as it's been talking to you, I really have to go..."

"I'll go with you!" she said, smiling widely as if she'd solved all of his problems in the world... if she only knew.

They made it halfway into the forest without incident, but that was when a furious looking Hazel stalked up. He didn't know if he'd rather talk to her or the girl that'd been annoying him for the last half of an hour... both prospects looked bleak, but one did look pretty life threatening.

"Isabel," Hazel said curtly looking at the girl.

'So THAT'S her name!' Frank thought.

"Yes, Hazel?" Isabel said in a cheerful voice.

"Do you mind if I speak to MY BOYFRIEND alone?"

"That's fine! Bye Frankie!" she hugged him, which surprised him, then blew him a kiss on the way out.

'Oh boy...' Frank thought looking at Hazel, 'I'm in trouble.' "Yes, dear?" he asked.

"The only reason that I'm even here is because someone told me that you and Isabel were getting friendly with one another. I thought that I was coming out here to prove them wrong, but WHAT do you know! You and Isabel were out here flirting away!"

"Getting FRIENDLY?" Frank repeated. "Um no, she's been annoying me for the past half-hour!"

"Sure she was," Hazel said, "I've gotta get back to work, please do me a favor and try not to flirt with the trees." With that, she stalked away from him in an angry huff. Frank just stood there, too stunned for words.

SEPH:

Helping Katie in the kitchen was hard work. Seph was on her break so she decided to take full advantage of her leisure time by going for a walk. She walked down the long hallway and was about five steps from the inviting door when she saw one of Drew's annoying sidekicks. "Seph, darling!" She called running up.

Seph regarded the girl. She recognized her as Anne. "Can I help you?"

"I want to show you something!" She said brightly.

Seph hesitated for a moment. Anne seemed to realize that because she rolled her eyes and said, "Come ON, Seph! I can guarantee you that you'll want to see this."

"Alright," Seph relented, mostly to get her to shut up and stop whining in her ear. "But I've gotta get back to work in a few minutes, so make this quick."

"Follow me then!" Anne exclaimed. Refraining from clutching her ear at the shrillness of Anne's voice, Seph followed. She led Seph up the nearest flight of stairs. They walked down a long hallway and stopped in front of a familiar door.

"Anne, why are we outside of James' room?"

"For this!" she said brightly. Anne opened the door and what Seph saw made her accidentally draw a deep and audible breath. James was locked in a tight and passionate embrace with Pracilla Walters.

Immediately James pulled away from her. "What-" he turned as looked straight at Seph, his eyes wide with horror. "Seph..."

"Sorry for interrupting," she mumbled, backing away, her eyes stinging with tears.

"Seph," James said again, stepping toward her, but Seph kept backing away.

"Its 'Current' to you Tempest," she snapped.

"But," James tried again, desperation thick in his voice.

"Save it," she said, her voice shaky. Tears now freely falling down her face. Feeling like a fool, she turned around and walked away, shaking silently with sobs that were wracking through her body.

Good God she was so stupid it was a tragedy. She'd actually believed that James had changed that he wasn't the same selfish arrogant jerk that she'd met seven years previously. She'd never felt so wrong.

She made it to her room that she shared with Skylar and McKenna. After she slammed the door shut, she leaned against it and slid down to the ground, tears falling freely down her face.

PIPER:

Katie was a tough person to work with when she was in charge. So what was her turn to take a break she didn't hesitate. "Piper!" Katie called over a large bowl that she was stirring vigorously with a whisk.

"Yeah, Katie?" she called.

"Seph's due back. When you see her tell her to stop taking her time!"

"Sure thing, Kate!" Piper called over her shoulder, as she walked into the hall. The castle was cold compared to the kitchen as soon as the air hit her skin she sighed in relief.

"Piper!" a voice called from somewhere down the hallway. She turned and saw James running toward her.

"James!" she exclaimed looking at him as he stopped in front of her, "you look terrible!" And he did, he looked as though he'd been attempting to pull his hair out, and he was as pale as the snow that'd fallen outside.

James waived aside the comment impatiently. "Please tell me Seph's in there."

"No she's not," Piper remarked. She had to wait for James to finish showing off his extensive knowledge of swear words before she could continue. "She never showed up after her break, what happened?"

James seemed to pale even further after this revelation. "I honestly don't know she hates me now and I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to right what's happened." He started to pace back and forth, his expression thick with pain and mortification. He ran his hands through his hair, making it even messier than usual. He seemed more keen on ripping his hair out of his head instead of making it messier.

"James," piper attempted. He kept pacing as if he didn't hear her. "James," she attempted again, only to be ignored. Impatient, she walked up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to stop. He looked at her, every single part of him that seemed defiant was gone, he looked as though he was about to give up on everything. "Look, James," Piper said soothingly, "tell me what happened, after that we can work together to try to fix things."

He nodded, inhaling deeply before beginning his story. "You know that I'm with Percy, Jason, Annabeth, Leo, and a few others, getting the fields ready for the contests. I tripped and fell right onto a pile of mud. So I went back to my room to change into some dryer clothes. I'd just put on a fresh pair pants and I was reaching for shirt when Pracilla barged in. I stood still for a moment, I mean I was in shock, but then I said, ' what are you doing? I'm trying to get dressed get out!' She smiled at me and said, 'Jamie don't be such a killjoy!' I threw my shirt and grab her by the shoulders to push her out of my room. she seem to take that as initiative to kiss me! Immediately I pushed her away, but... God Piper, Seph was standing in the doorway!"

"Oh god, James!" She said pulling him into a hug.

"Piper," he said, "I've looked everywhere, I don't know where she would be!"

Piper didn't know either. " Alright James, go back to the field I'll see what I can do."

James seemed to relax. "Thank God! Piper I swear if I wasn't insane about Seph, I'd probably be jealous of Jason."

Leaning down he gave her a quick hug before he turned and walked out, he was still rubbing his neck nervously.

Piper racked her brain for spots that Seph could be. James said that he checked everywhere but he's panic he probably missed a few vital places. Her room would be a good place to start.

A couple of Drew's useless friends were on the flight of stairs going to Seph's room, one of them was Pracilla Walters herself. She was talking offhandedly to a girl that Piper knew only as Anne.

"How's the boyfriend?" she called. "I bet Reyna knows better than anyone!"

Pracilla giggled like an airheaded idiot. "I wouldn't be so smug, Walters, I foresee some serious problems in YOUR future."

"Oh yeah?" Pracilla snorted. "Who's going to give me these 'problems'? Current? I thought that we knew who the better girl was out of the two of us. She's PATHETIC."

"No," Piper said, stepping closer to her. "You're pathetic. Do you really think James wants a girl like you?"

"I was never interested in him," she sniffed. "I bet he's a better kisser if he wasn't surprised... you know I might go out with him it'd make Seph miserable, that's the whole point."

Piper took a step closer. "I'd teach you a less right now, but I know Skylar and Seph closer to Seph that would probably enjoy it more. That's saying alot."

She shoved past them, stalking down the hallway. "Seriously I can't believe that she's talking, especially with that boyfriend of hers," Anne said loudly.

"I don't think she believes us," Pracilla said carelessly.

"Her loss," Anne said. The two girls laughed and she heard them starting to walk away.

**I am so sorry for the slow update! This story is reaching its end. I have one question: how would you feel about a sequel? I own nothing!**


	17. The Morning of

JASON:

He and the others had finished all of the fields and had gotten cleaned up. Piper was still busy in the kitchen, so he was stuck alone, wandering the castle. Reyna walked out of her room when he was walking down the hallway. Smiling, he walked over to her, "Sup, Reyna?" he called.

Apparently she hadn't seen him because she jumped slightly. "Oh, its you, Jason. How are you?"

Jason sighed, "I'm alright. Just a bit tired, the fields haven't been properly attended to since James' parents died."

"So you've had your hands busy then?" Reyna inquired, falling into step beside him.

"Unbelievably so," Jason admitted. "I haven't been this tired since I was thirteen and Percy had this brilliant idea of attempting to take on a group of twelve knights with just me him Piper and Annabeth."

Reyna laughed lightly and said, "You really love her, don't you?"

Jason positively beamed at her. "I do, I honestly do! Rey, I think I'm going to ask her to marry me."

Reyna looked up at him, shock splayed out in her features. "You're serious?"

Jason nodded, still smiling.

"Congratulations!" she exclaimed, leaping into his arms and hugging him.

Laughing, Jason picked her up and spun her around in the air in pure elation that she approved of his choice.

About five seconds later, someone cleared their throat loudly. Jason set Reyna down and saw Piper standing there, a large wet spot on her shoulder. She was positively seething with undisguised rage. "I just came from comforting a very distraught Seph, tormented by Drew's minions and the very same people hinted around to me that you two were running around together. I waived it off, figuring that my best friend and my beloved boyfriend wouldn't EVER do something like that to me! I guess I was wrong!"

Piper stalked off, leaving the two of them there alone in the empty hallway. "What just happened?" Jason asked.

"Oh my God," Reyna said, "I'm so sorry, Jason!"

"Its okay, Reyna," Jason murmured, "we were both just ecstatic because of the news I just gave you. None of this would have happened if Drew's cronies wouldn't have said anything to Piper. I'm sure that she'll be able to see reason."

Reyna looked at him guiltily for a moment before saying, "Very well, I'll see you later then, I hope she isn't too angry."

Jason smiled, "Piper is seldom angry."

Reyna gave him a 'whatever you say' look and walked off. Now if only Jason could believe what he said himself.

PERCY:

Oh boy, he was praying that the festival was what they needed to make the camp's spirit soar. It'd better be! They'd poured their blood, sweat, and tears into this operation. And when he went to bed that night, be slept soundly, knowing that he'd done all he could.

Waking up the next morning, he smiled. It was time. He got out of bed and got ready for the day, and as soon as he looked presentable he walked out of his door and down the hall to knock on Annabeth's. She quickly answered the door and smiled up at him.

"You ready?" Percy asked.

"I just wanted to brush my hair," Annabeth admitted, pointing to her tangled mess of hair. "You can come in and wait of you'd like."

Nodding and smiling, Percy entered the room and sat down on Annabeth's bed.

"How have you been lately?" Percy asked, feeling slightly guilty that they hadn't had a proper conversation that wasn't about battle tactics in almost a month.

"A little stressed," Annabeth admitted while running a brush through her hair, making her golden curls shine in the early sunlight. "But it isn't anything I can't handle."

Percy smiled slightly, knowing that she'd be too proud to admit that she needed help anyway. Annabeth turned around, away from the mirror to face him. "What about you?"

"I've been fine," he shrugged. "Having a hefty price on your head isn't as bad as it sounds."

Annabeth snorted, smirking slightly. "That is so like you, Percy," she turned around and started brushing her hair again, "you can make anything seem unimportant, or not as dangerous as it really is."

Percy smiled and got up. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. "But you love me for it," he whispered in her ear. "God Annabeth," he said, looking at her reflection in the mirror, "you're so beautiful, I've told you that, haven't I?"

She blushed and shook her head, "No, you haven't."

Percy laughed slightly, "Well now you know."

Annabeth turned around in his arms and wrapped hers around his neck. "You're the best looking guy here, have I told you that?"

Percy smiled and shook his head, "No."

"Well," Annabeth said, mocking his tone that he'd used on her, "now you know"

Still smiling, Percy bent down and kissed her. "We've got to go, don't want to be late for the festivities."

They walked out of their room hand in hand when they ran into Thalia and Jason. "It can't be that bad," Percy heard Thalia said in a soothing voice.

"Wanna make a bet sis?" Jason snapped.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth inquired, leaning into Percy, who'd put his arm around her waist.

"Jason and Piper are having a little lover's spat," Thalia said, rolling her eyes.

"Lover's spat my ass!" Jason exclaimed.

They all looked at him strangely, Jason didn't curse a lot, and when he did, he was stressed out.

"What happened," Percy prompted.

Jason sighed and said, "Drew's minions decided to start spreading roomers about Reyna and I again. Piper just finished listening to one of the cronies herself. She was coming back from comforting Seph when she saw me and Reyna hugging... enthusiastically in the hallway."

"She got mad over a hug?" Annabeth asked.

"You see," Jason said, "I picked her up and I was spinning her around..."

Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth all facepalmed. "What?" Jason demanded hotly.

"Jason!" Thalia said. "She's angry because you two aren't helping out with stopping the rumors! Hugging like that in a hallway is stupid!"

"I had a good reason!" Jason said defensively.

"Really," Percy asked. "And what would that be?"

"I can't tell you right now," Jason admitted, "but I promise I'll tell you soon!"

"Alright," Annabeth sighed, "you two can kiss and make up at the festival which is going to start soon!"

LEO:

Piper came stalking up to him. She was obviously agitated, he may not be too well with people, but Piper was his friend and he had to help his friends.

"Hey, Pipes," he said cautiously, "something wrong?"

He heard a light sniffle from her before she said, "Oh, um no, I'm just a bit stressed is all, I think a good walk would do me some good."

"Really?" Leo questioned, not believing her for a minute. "Why don't you talk to Jason? He always seems to cheer you up."

He quickly realized that he'd said the wrong thing. He eyes steeled over and she said in a creepy and icy tone, "I will... as soon as you can pry him from Reyna, let me know!" With that off her chest, she stormed off, growling under her breath about clueless idiots, and Leo's gut feeling was telling him that she was talking about Jason and himself.

Figuring that it was his duty as a friend of both her, Jason, and Reyna, he should try to help. "Step one," he sighed, "figure out what happened between Jason and Reyna."

SEPH:

Getting up the next morning, she saw that her sister and best friend were sound asleep. Wanting to leave without them noticing, she soundlessly got out of her cot and crept toward the door. Her hand was on the knob and she was turning it when Skylar's voice rang out in the silence, making her jump. "Not so fast, Current."

Inwardly cursing, she turned around to face Skylar and she saw that McKenna was awake. She forced a smile that probably looked like a grimace. "What do you mean, Sky?"

Skylar glared at her in a 'so help me if you play stupid ima choke you with your own hair' way. She inwardly cringed. Why couldn't they see that she was falling apart on the insides and wanted to be alone?

"Really," Seph said, "I need to go, lot's to do today!"

"Seph," McKenna murmured. "We know. He said he didn't have a clue what was going on."

"Right," Seph said, she could hear the pain coloring her voice, and cursing herself for being so weak. "You didn't see what I saw. And I know you're concerned for me and I appreciate that, I really do," she turned toward the door so they couldn't see her eyes shining, "but I don't want to even think about him today."

She didn't wait for a reply, she simply walked out, praying they understood

HAZEL:

"So let me get this straight," Skylar said slowly, "this bitch..."

"Isabel," Hazel supplied.

"Right," Skylar said, "Isabel, was flirting with Frank, and when you walked up she hugged him, called him 'Frankie,'" she snorted, "and blew him a kiss before leaving."

"Yep," Hazel sighed.

"Damn," Skylar muttered. "Bitch got nerve."

Hazel giggled slightly, happy that she'd decided to talk with her, she always knew how to cheer her up.

"Well," Skylar said brightly, "at least you're sure about one thing."

"What exactly?" Hazel inquired, looking up at her friend curiously.

"You said that Frank was apparently oblivious to her?"

Hazel nodded in confirmation.

"She's a pretty girl, who was plainly flirting with him, Frank was apparently at best aggravated with her. Haze, you've got a great guy on your hands. You're the only girl he notices."

"You think so?" Hazel said, trying not to sound too insecure.

Skylar nodded earnestly. "I could have told you that before this, but this just adds to my already valid point. He's crazy about you."

Hazel felt something like guilt worm her way into her stomach.

"Don't worry, Haze," Skylar said reassuringly, "the festival is actually about to start, you can apologize there."

**Well I feel really bad for not updating. I kinda got caught up in another fandom. Resident Evil... AMAZING books and movies (Idk about games... not much of a gamer), anyways, I started a RE fic, if you're a fan of Matt's character in the movie, then go and check it out.**

**Idk of there is going to be a regular updating schedule for this story, but I'll do the best I can. We only have a few more chapters left! Personally I'm aiming for 20 and over 100 reviews... hope I make it there. Thanks for all who read and review, and sorry of this chapter isn't my best work... I'm a bit rusty for PJO.**


	18. Preparations and Quick Conversations

**Before I start: you should have seen this coming...**

LUKE:

If this didn't work, he was going to hunt Drew down himself and personally execute her. She promised him most of the camp's main fighters in turmoil. If anyone could manage that, she could. He'd just left the castle with his men, they were riding to the Tempest estate. It was rumored to be haunted by the old baron and baroness that'd once lived in the house. No one had thought to look despite one of the men on wanted posters across the country was none other than James Tempest, their son. Luke felt like an idiot.

The soldiers were edgy, they didn't want to go anywhere that could be haunted. 'Damn their superstition,' he thought icily.

Closing his eyes and spurring his horse to go faster, he sighed, all he wanted to do was get this over with.

PERCY:

The festival seemed to be going great. Children were running around shrieking and giggling, teenage boys were showing off at the archery range and the sword station. Women were having cooking competitions, and the men seemed to be having eating contests with the women's cooking. He couldn't help but allow himself a small smile, things were finally looking up.

He and Annabeth had separated, she thought she'd seen an architectural problem with one of the sheds and she'd left to go and figure it out, leaving Percy all alone, wandering around the massive expanse of property.

He walked over to a trio of his friends who were obviously arguing. Will, James, and Zach. "You need to tell her!" Percy heard Zach snap once he was in hearing range.

"The hell I do!" James exclaimed, "I enjoy living, oddly enough!"

"Hey guys," Percy said, walking up. "Something wrong?"

"Nothing," James said quickly.

Percy raised an eyebrow at the others and Will spilled. "We're trying to convince James to be honest with Seph, and he keeps insisting that she's gonna kill him of he tries."

Percy looked at James searchingly. "You should," he agreed after a moment. "How mad can she get?"

James openly gaped at him. "She's broken my BONES before! That isn't angry enough for you?"

"Well," Percy said thoughtfully, "mind you I'm terrible with kinda stuff, but I think the proper question to ask isn't "how mad" its "how much." How much does she mean to you? Is she worth another broken arm to you?"

James opened his mouth and closed it again.

"Damn, Percy," Zach muttered. "That was deep."

"I have my moments," he admitted, smirking. Turning back to James, he said, "Well?"

"Yes," he said immediately, "of course she is."

"Then that's your answer," Percy said simply.

James opened his mouth to answer, a relieved look on his face, but he was cut off by a yell from one of the scouts that'd been posted. "We've got problems!"

LEO:

He was walking through the festival with Jason, listening to the frantic complaints that were coming out of him. "I don't know what to do!"

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Leo assured. "All she saw was you and Reyna hugging, right?"

Jason nodded earnestly. "And she knows that Reyna is an old friend! I mean I've known her longer than almost everyone else, but we have a brother-sister realtionship! Anyone with eyes can see that! Piper knows that, besides, we both know that you and Reyna like each other!"

Leo felt a prominent blush rise to his cheeks. Damn him! "Look, Jason," Leo said earnestly, "I get that you're stressed, but I doubt letting her sit with that anger is a good idea, I can see that turning disastrous."

Jason nodded, "You're right, Leo, do you know-"

He was cut off by Percy yelling at the top of his lungs, "We've got company!"

Jason's eyes widened in front of Leo. "No way..."

"Back to the castle!" Percy commanded. Suddenly there was a sudden surge of people running, they all ran back to the confinement.

He saw Percy running toward him, Leo walked over to them and said, "What the hell is going on?"

"Scout saw hordes of Luke's men coming right toward us, we meed to get ready for a full on attack."

"What about the people that can't fight?" Leo questioned.

"I don't know," Percy said, were trapped, but from the look of it they were only coming from the one direction. We need to get five or so able bodied soldiers to lead the sick and elderly out from the other side."

Leo nodded seemed like a good idea... better than nothing anyway. He raced to the house with everyone else. Thundering into the kitchen where everyone was going into, he just made it as Percy started to talk.

"We have a bit of a issue," Percy said, "all of my able bodied fighters, I need you to get ready, you're briefing will be in a moment. Advisors need to stay."

Leo walked back out of the room, he needed to get ready.

JASON:

He saw Piper walk out of the room without so much as looking at him. He was going to have to talk to her before everything got too bad. He turned his attention to Percy. "The rest of you need to be ready to move in the next five minutes." Everyone else but he Percy and Annabeth left.

"We have ten minuets, guys," Percy said. "They're going to want the ones who evaded capture alive to put on trial. That's our only advantage at the moment."

Percy put his head in his hands, sighing loudly. "We protect the castle unlike the soldiers, we know how to navigate our way around." All of the exhaustion seemed to melt off him only to be replaced by a steely look in his eyes. "If they want us, they can damn well come and get us."

"That's the spirit," Annabeth murmured. "Don't worry, Perce, they aren't going to get anyone."

"Yeah," Jason agreed, "but we need to suit up, I don't know about you guys, but I stay alive longer in armor."

~Two minutes later~

Jason was racing out of his room, he'd never suited up so quickly in his life. But despite how tired he felt, he knew he had to find Piper before it was too late. He figured that she would be just getting finished getting ready.

He all but banged the door down as he knocked on it. Five seconds later, Piper opened it with a curious expression on her face. As soon as she saw him her expression turned from curious to halfway furious. "What?"

Jason didn't know how to start so he leaned down and kissed her, his hand cupping her cheek so she was facing him when he pulled back. "I am so sorry, Piper. I have something to ask you, I really do. I don't want to distract you so as soon as this is over, I'll ask. You have to promise me that you'll be careful so I'll get my chance to ask."

"Of course, Jason," Piper agreed.

Jason let out a breath that he didn't even know he'd been holding. "Thank you."

She smiled slightly and shook her head. "You need to go go Percy. I need to finish. See you soon?"

"See you soon," Jason promised. Then he did as piper asked and ran down the hall to where Percy would hopefully be.

ANNABETH:

"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said when she saw him after getting ready. "Don't get reckless on me, alright."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Percy said smartly, strapping on his last piece of armor.

She rolled her eyes. "Really?"

"Really," Percy confirmed, walking over to her, "I have too much riding on this to get sloppy. And what about you?"

"What about me?" Annabeth asked, standings from the chair the chair she'd just been seated in.

Percy smirked. "Don't get sloppy either."

"Have you ever known me to be sloppy?" Annabeth demanded indignantly, throwing her hair up in a ribbon as she kept talking.

"I mean if you think of me, you might get sloppy," Percy said grinning, "daydreaming and whatnot."

"In that case," Annabeth said wrapping her arms around his neck, "we have no chance of that happening."

"You make me feel real good, Wise Girl," Percy grumbled.

Annabeth placed a short kiss on his lips before whispering, "That's kinda the idea."

That was when someone cleared their throat. Annabeth tore her arms away from Percy in shock. Thalia and Jason both stood there, both of their mouths hanging open in what was either disgust or shock. Thalia was the first to speak up. "Of all the times for you two to start that, now was not the best."

Jason merely shrugged. "Now or never, I guess."

Looking at the both of them wearily, Percy said, "With that out of the way, its high time that we get the troops assembled. Jason, you command front lines with me. Annabeth, special tactics team. Thalia, archers."

Everyone nodded and walked out. They were ready... well as ready as they could be with ten minute's warning.

HAZEL:

She was ready to go. Her horse was waiting to be ridden out to battle. She liked the black one the best out of the ones that Seph had stolen from the stables, so she called her Midnight, and she was the best battle horse ever.

Sighing inwardly, she hopped on, not really knowing what to do. She kinda wanted to say something to Frank before everything happened. So she spurred the horse forward. He would be with Leo and his crew. They always worked together with Frank's strength it made their life easier. As she walked forward, she saw that most people had the same idea. Skylar and Will were hugging fiercely beside a tree, Leo and Reyna were holding hands and saying things quietly to each other, with a burst of surprise, Hazel saw Zach actually kiss McKenna as she was riding by.

As soon as she saw Frank, she jumped off the horse and ran over to him. "Frank!" She called.

He turned around and smiled as he saw who called his name. "Hey Hazel," he said, "aren't you supposed to be with Annabeth,"

"Yeah," she admitted, "I am I was just on my way there."

"You do understand that she's in the OTHER direction... right?"

Hazel smiled slightly. "Detour, I guess."

Frank smiled and said, "Does this mean I'm forgiven?"

"You didn't do anything wrong," Hazel said. "I'm sorry."

He grinned even wider. "No harm no foul."

She pecked him on the lips before he said, "You need to go get ready. I don't want you to be caught off guard."

Hazel nodded, looked at him one more time, and ran back to her horse, ready to get the show on the road.

JAMES:

He was ready for a fight. He really was. As he closed his eyes and prayed to the gods that he'd live to see the next day, he walked down the hallway. There was a good chance that he was going to die, he was fully aware, but he'd be damned if he was going to die with Seph angry with him.

He was indeed terrified of rejection. At the moment he couldn't even lie to himself about that. She was almost everything to him and at the moment he couldn't even find her. Swallowing his rising panic, he continued to search.

He was looking down the third floor hallway when he heard the wonderfully familiar voice that he was looking for. "You can't be serious!"

It was coming from a spare room at the end of the hallway. Percy's voice came next. "Seph, come on. I know you don't want to-"

"You're damn right I don't! " she sounded angry. "I didn't sign onto this company so that when things got rough, I was going to be sent away to play babysitter!"

She was leaving! James smiled at the thought.

"I understand," Percy said earnestly. "I do, but you're needed elsewhere. The people will listen to you more readily than Drew, Anne, Isabel or Pracilla."

Silence. James figured that he might as well go in. He opened the door and stepped inside the empty room. Seph and Percy were standing face to face. His expression was a slightly concerned one and for a good reason, Seph's face was a mask of pure fury.

Percy looked over at him, while Seph remained stock still, expression still in place. Percy, after seeing who it was said, "I need to go... Seph I'm sorry, but that's final, you're needed there. James... you try to convince her." Apparently he was aware that James overheard the conversation.

James nodded absently as Percy walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, leaving the two of them in the room alone. Rubbing the back of his neck, he looked at Seph, her expression hadn't changed much as she met his gaze. Quite quickly he felt all of his courage and resolve leave him... he was quite literally at a loss for words. Then he remembered that he hadn't actually done anything wrong, which caused aggravation to run through his veins.

"Is there something that I can help you with, Tempest?" she inquired, coldness slipping into her tone.

"Yeah," James said, "there is. I need to talk to you."

Seph crossed her arms and looked up at him. He saw that hurt was buried behind the waves of anger that she was lashing out with. "Well," she said, "I have around two minuets, I'm waiting."

"Alright," James said, "I don't have enough time so this is the condensed version."

"What-"

She was cut off by James, "I have no interest in Pracilla. I HATE her... remember? She kissed ME WITHOUT my consent." He reached down and picked up her hand, silently pleading with her to understand. "I don't want to lose you over something like this. You're practically everything to me. I don't have anything else. Not anymore." He tried to go on, but his voice didn't seem to want to form words for him.

Wordlessly, Seph took a step closer and wrapped her arms around him, pulling James closer to her. He closed his eyes and held her close as he buried his head in her hair.

"Oh and Seph," James said as they were standing there, "you do understand that you're going on the trek into town and staying there. You're going to stay safe for me... right?"

"James..." Seph said.

"For my sake," James said, pulling away from her slightly.

She looked at him straight in the eyes. It took her a minute but she sighed, "Alright, I'll go for YOU."

James managed a smile, "Thank you so much."

Someone knocked on the door and Connor walked in. "Its time to go."

**I'm sorry for not updating sooner. My inspiration for this whole fandom seems to have shot straight down the tube. I do plan on completing the stories, never fear, I just don't know. I own nothing.**


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